Florence (Flo) Simple Telehealth is a system developed in the West Midlands to help community health teams manage patients – collecting vital signs readings and communicating with them via smartphones. It’s claimed to be low cost enough and easy enough to implement that at least one GP practice has funded a trial from its own resources. Flo endorsed by GP co-operative for low risk large scale adoption. Here’s a video of it in action. (Some readers may wish to turn down the music.) For further information navigate to Flo’s home page via the above link.
6 thoughts on “'Ultra-low cost' Simple Telehealth patient management (UK)”
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It is not this simple, I hope someone has done clinical risk analysis; it is full of BIG holes…. In my previous job we build a much bigger platform but it was killed on clinical risk analysis as there is too little automation…
I am afraid this may be cheap and simple but not risk free…
It would be great if you can publish the risk case file.
Good luck to them – think its a clever system and would like a demo myself!
It may seem risky but then if everyone is too scared to give it a try and see if it works, then how will they ever prove themselves?
@James
Have you seen the system in action?
Of course it’s not risk free, nothing is risk free. But why do people like yourself go straight for the negative? What we have done here is focus on the very positive outcomes and improvements in patients’ wellbeing and quality of life. You focus on the good, then find ways to manage the risks and make sure we have a system that works.
@jamie exactly!
Hello James, Florence is built to handle patients simultainously on a massive scale and has passed many clinical and information governance tests. The unique systems and methods we use to do this are under the protection of NHS patents.
This system is designed to work with patients who want to and are able to help themselves. I would very much appreciate it if you would let us know about any concerns you may have to enable us to address them. We can be contacted via the website http://www.stoke.nhs.uk/simple
I was fortunate enough to receive a FLO demonstration two years ago. Since then it has progressed from a simple texting service to an even simpler smart phone app with versions that will work on landlines. There can be no doubt that it (and other simple, low-cost approaches) will satisfy the needs of many, many people who have long-term conditions and who want to know that there is a system out there that has a light touch and which is looking after them.
Clinicians may want a more sophisticated (virtually risk free) approach for the relatively few people who have higher needs, but that’s why populations are stratified to ensure that they receive the required level of monitoring and intervention. FLO could make a significant contribution to public health and could go a long way to encouraging people to become partners in their own care through this simple form of interaction.
We have linked our Whzan telehealth system to FLO. Our system provides fully automated data capture from wireless enabled instrumentation. FLO patients can seamlessly migrate to this when the need arises.
The Whzan system can ‘adopt’ existing telehealth patients reusing their monitoring instruments. Whzan is available for £1/day including the smartphone, software, connection and data charges plus automated data monitoring.