NHS has partnered up with the Swedish med tech firm Doccla, and now their healthcare workers in Luton will have the opportunity to monitor chronic patients without needing to be in a clinical setting.
Working with Doccla, Luton Children and Adults Community Health Services will be able to provide a remote patient monitoring service. This service will include wearable technology.
With the intention of accelerating the implementation of remote health monitoring solutions in the UK, the novel NHSX remote patient monitoring framework agreement awarded this contract between Doccla and the NHS.
With the use of a secure web browser, clinical staff can monitor patients’ vital signs remotely, either intemittently or continuously, by the Virtual Ward service provided by Doccla.
On a daily basis, every patient’s device sends off automated readings and alerts of routine measurements, such as pulse and oxygen levels, from Doccla to Luton clinicians, in order for them to review and take necessary action, if needed.
WHY IT IS IMPORTANT
The NHS need to reduce their costs and workload pressures and in order to do that they must reduce the need of their patients, suffering from long-term or chronic health conditions, to visit the hospital. Doccla’s service aims to do just that! By gathering a breadth of data from the wearables, patients will feel reassured that their care team is monitoring their health and will, of course, be notified if and when their condition deteriorates.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
COVID-19 has underscored the importance of remote care solutions. Northampton General Hospital Trust partnered with Doccla, in July, in order to trial its remote smart patient monitoring. Doccla has collaborated with the trust, to create a service, not only for COVID patients, but also for the chronically ill.
Another partnership was announced recently between The London General Practice and Careology, a digital cancer care company. Careology has a platform, called Careology Connect, which enables clinicians to monitor patients’ COVID symptoms in real-time remotely and to step in if medical attention is required. The platform also makes use of wearable devices in order to monitor temperatures, heart rates and activity levels.
STATEMENTS
”Making patient wards virtual is a very important step in the growth of health resources, increasing capacity and efficiency and the main aim of improving patient care overall. The recognition from the NHS of how beneficial remote patient monitoring can be is exciting to see and interest is beggining to grow”, said the CEO and cofounder of Doccla, Dag Larsson.
”Doccla has managed to surpass much larger tech players with its unique approach. We use innovative tech in combination with being able to support clinical service and although this is our first contract, we hope to win many more in the future. We aim to make virtual wards the norm in secondary patient care.”
”We are thrilled to be collaborating with Doccla, implementing innovative technology. Through working with Doccla we can reduce the risk of virus transmission and minimize some of the time and capacity pressures our staff deal with, meanwhile keeping our patients suffering with chronic illnesses safe, in the comfort of their own home”, said Pete Reeve, the service director at Luton Children and Adults Community Health Services.