Health Tech Digital Magazine | January 2019

HEALTH TECH

MAGAZINE

TECHNOLOGY IN THE SPOTLIGHT

MHEALTH / TELEHEALTH / WEARABLES January 2019

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE MONTH Therapy apps effective at reducing symptoms of depression Government released £1 billion funding for upgrading NHS services

Servelec and Totalmobile extend partnership to provide mobile workforce solutions

Fax machines soon to be banned in the NHS – Health and Social Care

A heart check with your smartphone: CardioSecur Active makes ECGs for private users a reality

New NHS Telehealth Service empowers people to monitor heart and lung disease – digital health technology

Saving Lives With Patient Messaging Communication Technology in Healthcare: Negotiating Risk Factors

vCreate – Secure Video Messaging technology, helping minimise separation anxiety in parents of children in Neonatal and Paediatric Units

The digital deadline is coming: traditional telecare services switching to digital

ABOUT US

HEALTH TECH DIGITAL Health Tech Digital brings healthcare professionals, thought leaders and healthcare technology companies together by providing a comprehensive online and print magazine, e-newsletter and Health Tech TV covering every aspect of the healthcare technology sector in the UK. We make it easy for healthcare professionals to find solutions, read case studies and connect with companies who are pioneering the digital transformation of healthcare in the UK. Health Tech Digital covers the entire digital transformation journey, from learning about a solution, hearing about new funding and health-tech news, reading case studies, learning about integration, interoperability, security, infrastructure, hardware, equipment, commissioning and procurement. Join over 20,000 healthcare professionals by signing up to our newsletter today.

Would you like to get involved?

T

here are many ways for you to get involved with Health Tech Digital. Health Tech TV, our new YouTube channel is where we will be sharing healthcare technology information on key topics relevant to the digital transformation of the UK healthcare sector. If you are a healthcare professional and would like us to film your talk about the digital transformation of your trust or if you are a professional who has knowledge on a particular aspect of digital health, we would like to hear from you.

We currently have space for a few guest writers for some of our topics and are always interested to hear any news you may have or a solution overview and case study.

Contact us today if you would like to get involved.

Government released £1 billion funding for upgrading NHS services

T

he government has announced that almost £1 billion of funding will be shared across 75 projects in a bid to improve and upgrade selected NHS services. The additional £963 million will be used to help treat more patients, enhance NHS facilities and improve integrated care services across UK communities.

The government has announced which 75 projects will benefit from the additional funding which includes projects that increase patient capacity as well as prevention methods to stop ill-health occurring in the first place. Some of the successful projects to receive a portion of the funding include an expansion of mental health services in Newcastle, Liverpool and Gateshead as well as a new emergency department in Walsall.

To try an improve NHS services across the whole of the country, £800 million of the funding will be spent outside of London.

The announcement of the funding comes as part of the long-term plan for the NHS which includes the biggest ever funding increase. In the plan, the NHS budget will increase by £20.5 billion every year until 2023/2024.

Matt Hancock, the Health and Social Care Secretary, said of the announcement; “We want even more patients to receive world-class care in world-class NHS facilities and this near billion-pound boost – one of the most substantial capital funding commitments ever made – means that the NHS can do just that for years to come.”

Some of the other projects to receive funding include: -

Additional bed capacity at Princess Alexandra Hospital Expansion at Hinchingbrooke Hospital Stroke rehabilitation unit for NHS Bedfordshire Emergency department strategic development for West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust An integrated community hub at Bakewell Breast imaging improvement plan at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trusts Outwoods Health Village in Staffordshire

- 10-bed learning disabilities low secure unit in Oxford.

75 PROJECTS WILL BENEFIT FROM THE ADDITIONAL FUNDING

Fax machines soon to be banned in the NHS – Health and Social Care Secretary announced

H

ealth and Social Care Secretary, Matt Hancock, has put in place a ban across the whole of the NHS to prevent any orders of fax machines. This comes as a plan to phase out fax machines completely by 2020. The ban on ordering fax machines begins in January 2019 with a phase-out date for the 31st March 2020.

Furthermore, NHS trusts will be monitored quarterly until they declare themselves as a ‘fax free’ NHS trust.

Currently, there are more than 8,000 fax machines being used across the whole of the NHS in England.

As a way to improve cybersecurity and patient safety, the NHS is required to use modern communication methods, such as secure email from April 2019.

‘Axe the fax.’

The fax machine ban and increased use of innovative communication technology come as part of Matt Hancock’s tech vision for the NHS. The vision comes with a set of open standards to allow communication to cross boundaries of the organisation as well as ensuring continuous improvement.

The idea of the tech vision is to modernise the health service as a whole. Matt Hancock explains; “Because I love the NHS, I want to bring it into the 21st century and use the very best technology available. We’ve got to get the basics right, like having computers that work and getting rid of the archaic fax machines still used across the NHS when everywhere else got rid of them years ago.”

As part of the tech vision, any system in the NHS that does not mean the standards set forward by the modernisation plan will have to be phased out. The NHS and the government will have to end contracts with providers who do not help to innovate and improve the health sector.

The Chair of the Royal College of Surgeons Commission on the Future of Surgery adds; “Most other organisations scrapped fax machines in the early 2000s and it is high time the NHS caught up. The RCS supports the ban on fax machines that will come into place in March 2020.

Since we published our data on NHS fax machines, we’ve seen a number of trusts pledge to ‘axe the fax’. They have proved that, with the right will and support, it is possible to modernise NHS communications.”

AXE THE FAX

Communication Technology in Healthcare: Negotiating Risk Factors

A

s reports continue to surface about potentially “dangerous” IT systems within the NHS, as well as the healthcare industries supposed over-reliance on physical fax machine technology, is it time to investigate your position with the healthcare industry?

With an emphasis on the personal impacts of losing patient data, healthcare organisations should be putting in place adequate and appropriate measures to ensure personal data is not lost. Use of fax machines may be counterproductive to the required standards expected of you.

2017 was not a good year for the NHS when it came to the controversy surrounding data protection.

It was reported that over half a million records containing confidential information did not make it to the intended recipients. The breaches brought to light a distinct and severe lack of security surrounding the transmission and sharing of patient data. Despite the problems they experienced, many organisations within healthcare are still exposed to risks of data breaches. Why? The technology within the sector remains notoriously outdated.

Fax documents remain significant in the healthcare sector. However, you don’t need a physical fax machine to send faxes. In fact, data is safer without them.

Online faxing is a technology that marks an evolution of the outdated fax machine. By using smart devices and modern computer systems, it combines 21stcentury security protocols with the convenience of fax documentation sharing.

The media routinely quoted Richard Kerr of the Royal College of Surgeons as he called for an end to IT systems within the healthcare service that are “stubbornly attached” to outdated fax machine technology. Kerr made the comments after investigations discovered that a combined total of nearly 9,000 machines are still in use.

Given continued promises for funding, but a lack of finances materialising, it comes as no surprise that the NHS is still reliant on old-fashioned technology.

This causes a predicament for anyone working within the healthcare sector.

The use of fax machine technology has numerous negative implications relating to data protection.

Significant problems with physical fax machines include their outdated safety protocols. The recent discovery of the “faxploit” — a weakness in fax hardware that allows hackers to bypass security protocols and easily infiltrate an IT system — demonstrates the dangers physical fax machines themselves pose to the healthcare sector and patient data. Fax machines also present other issues, including document exposure to unauthorised parties through unattended physical files and the accidental transmission of data to unintended recipients through misdialing fax numbers.

Healthcare organisations can integrate online faxing into their processes, and remove dangerous and outdated fax machines while continuing to use current methods of document sharing. Online faxing also enables file sharing with standard fax machines, allowing you to update your systems with more secure options, but without hindering your ability to communicate with other healthcare bodies, trusts and practices that still use physical fax machines.

Physical fax machines aren’t the only outdated tech used by the NHS. Studies show that the NHS uses 10% of the world’s pagers. The technology used for internal communication within healthcare is so outdated that professionals operating in the sector have to find ways of working around archaic practices. Now 97% of doctors use the popular mobile phone app WhatsApp to communicate with each other on internal matters.

From an outside perspective, this appears to be an innovative way of moving past difficulties faced in communication technology. However, the development isn’t as harmless as it may appear. The use of a personal mobile application to transfer information creates its own set of risks, including exposing data to unauthorised individuals such as family members, opening up security risks through unregulated third-party programs and a lack of specialised training resulting in inappropriate use of software for internal operations.

Healthcare professionals have been forced to adapt their communication platforms outside of the standard work environment and, as a result, have created more potential for data breaches.

The solution to this problem is simple — internal communication structures and IT systems need to be updated to match modern standards of both security and efficiency.

This is, of course, not a new or groundbreaking concept. In both 2017 and 2018, NHS trusts and connected organisations faced massive problems due to multiple cyber and ransomware attacks that posed serious threats to personal data. But upgrading new systems is not cheap.

Last year, experts suggested the total bill of bringing British healthcare software up to scratch would sit at over £4bn. With NHS funding stretched to its limits, current systems seem set to be firm fixtures across the healthcare sector for years to come.

This puts you in an unfavourable position — stuck between a need to secure information, but with no supportive resources to achieve the goals being set by data security regulations.

There are alternatives to consider — ways of upgrading communication systems to better protect patient data without incurring massive costs or resulting in complete overhauls of current IT systems.

Digital faxing presents a more secure way of sharing data.

Choosing the right platform means your organisation meets the required standards of NHS Digital compliance assessments and aids with the prevention of numerous data sharing risks. It also offers the ability to introduce encrypted software that can be integrated into current IT systems without the need for an upgrade, which reduces costs considerably and allows for internal communications on a more secure platform. While messages and information are sent via computer systems and devices, the messages themselves are handled through external servers and cloud-based technology, which means the security protocols are more prepared for modern threats. What does this mean for patient data safety? It effectively means you can upgrade your security processes at low cost and boost your ability to protect vital data.

By eFax Corporate

Therapy apps effective at reducing symptoms of depression

A

n extensive study by Indiana University researched the effectiveness of internet therapy apps and their ability to reduce symptoms of depression.

The study included data from 4,781 people and 21 existing studies.

In recent years, many developers have claimed their internet-based apps can treat depression as they offer resources with cognitive behavioural therapy. Cognitive behavioural therapy is a technique in psychotherapy that enables patients to change their thought patterns. By changing thought patterns, it can help to alleviate the symptoms of depression as well as symptoms of other mental disorders.

However, this study led by Lorenzo Lorenzo-Luaces at IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, is the first to review the effects of app-based treatments with patients with additional conditions such as anxiety. As well as this, the study includes reviewing patients with severe depression.

Based on the review of research, the study lead has found that app-based cognitive behavioural therapy apps can be an essential tool for treating people with mental health disorders as well as treating a major public health issue. Through conducting a meta-regression analysis of the data, the science suggests that apps can prove beneficial to a large number of people.

App-based systems can help to save healthcare systems a great deal of money.

Typically, people with depression are considered expensive to health care systems as they have an increased number of visits to primary care physicians as well as having a tendency to have more medical problems alongside depression.

The study concludes by stating that the apps can work for patients with cases of severe, moderate and mild depression. However, patients receive better care with more guidance; the recommendation is to use iCBT apps alongside medication and face-to-face therapy. However, just a 15-minute consultation may be sufficient alongside iCBT apps which could free up health care providers saving money and allowing them to see more patients.

Apps can prove to be especially beneficial for those who have inflexible schedules or live in rural areas that suffer from logistical problems for face-to-face appointments.

APP-BASED SYSTEMS CAN HELP TO SAVE HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS A GREAT DEAL OF MONEY. TYPICALLY, PEOPLE WITH DEPRESSION ARE CONSIDERED EXPENSIVE TO HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS AS THEY HAVE AN INCREASED NUMBER OF VISITS TO PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIANS AS WELL AS HAVING A TENDENCY TO HAVE MORE MEDICAL PROBLEMS ALONGSIDE DEPRESSION.

Servelec and Totalmobile extend partnership to provide mobile workforce solutions

S

ervelec, a provider of health, social care and education software has extended its strategic partnership with mobile workforce solution provider Totalmobile.

The partnership will facilitate the mobilisation of Servelec’s 127-strong health and social care customer base by enabling them to access the clinical information they need on the move, via their mobile device.

The strategic partnership will see Servelec and Totalmobile develop a suite of applications for the health and social care workforce according to role, giving them instant access to critical information around an individual without having to return to base to access documents, or submit notes into a desktop PC. A range of solutions have already been created for the healthcare sector, linked to Servelec’s Rio Electronic Patient Record (EPR) product. Through research among their customer base, Servelec found that as much as an hour per nursing practitioner could be saved each day by enabling access to patient information and secondary consultations through a mobile app. Mobile solutions for Servelec’s social care platform, Mosaic, are currently in development, including a solution that will enable social care workers to easily organise visits and update case management notes whilst on the move. It is currently estimated that social workers spend around 30% of their time in the office, which Servelec and Totalmobile hope to reduce to 10% through use of the app, meaning they can spend more time with clients.

Alan Stubbs, Chief Executive Officer at Servelec says: “At Servelec, we recognise that to better support practitioners in their roles, the nature of what customers require from our systems is changing. They often need to access our systems away from traditional care settings but may not require the full system to be at their fingertips. We’re working with our customers to define the needs of their frontline staff and to make sure our products work with them on their mobile journey. “Totalmobile has a mature and established framework for developing mobile applications quickly and its team is very experienced in mobile working and mobilisation. The complementary knowledge and expertise of their team and ours, combined with excellent technology, means Totalmobile is very much a valued partner to Servelec.”

Jim Darragh, Chief Executive Officer of Totalmobile adds: “Providing healthcare professionals with the right mobile working solution empowers them to deliver the highest standard of care, while improving their own working lives and delivering a range of transformational benefits to the organisation. We regularly speak to customers who have improved the capacity of their workforce by over 20%, reducing the stress on their existing staff and ensuring the service user benefits as a result.

The strategic relationship with Servelec is very exciting as it brings two best in breed technologies together. Providing clinicians with easy access to patient information, along with the ability to efficiently complete clinical forms on a device, at the point of care, provides great benefits for everyone involved in the delivery of care. I’m confident that this is a relationship that will have an incredibly positive impact on the health and social care sector.” The range of solutions will be available to all Rio and Mosaic users, enabling them to experience the benefits of mobile workforce efficiency. The social care mobile solutions for Mosaic will be available from January 2019. A demonstration of the social care applications will be on display at forthcoming User Groups. The new healthcare apps for Rio will be going live in 2018.

TECHNOLOGY IN THE SPOTLIGHT MHEALTH / TELEHEALTH / WEARABLES Each month we cover healthcare technology that is revolutionising the UK healthcare sector. This month we focus on saving lives with patient messaging, secure video messaging technology, helping minimise separation anxiety in parents of children in Neonatal and Paediatric Units, making ECGs for private users a reality, empowering people to monitor heart and lung disease and traditional telecare services switching to digital.

iPLATO myGP app

INHEALTHCARE Telehealth Service

vCREATE

APPELLO

vCreate App

TECS solutions

CARDIOSECUR CardioSecur Active

Saving Lives With Patient Messaging

W

ithout question, the focus of our beloved NHS is always to save lives. The importance of technology and the impact it has, both within the NHS and on patient outcomes, cannot be denied. The current fervent media debate questions both the pros and cons in deploying health tech within the NHS versus privately owned companies racing toe establish technology and AI As the newfound solution to diagnostic success and remote access to healthcare.

In this analysis, we look at how technology can work to serve the NHS in empowering both CCG’s and practices to effectively manage key critical health issues via patient messaging which can be easily deployed by CCG’s and GP Practices in order to positively impact patient outcomes.

Current NHS Spending – Treatment versus Prevention The NHS currently spends £97 billion on treatment versus £8 billion on prevention, and many health care professionals agree with Matt Hancock’s recent call for more spending on preventative healthcare to address the socio-demographic challenges primary care is facing.

The Secretary of State’s focus for preventative medicine in the recently released Green Paper (5.11.2018) is aiming to stop people from slipping into poor health. The paper, entitled “Prevention Is Better Than Cure” argues for a shift towards primary and community care services, which helps people stay healthy.

Almost one in three people in the UK have a long-term condition and the NHS spends over two-thirds of its budget treating these conditions, many of which could be prevented by changes in lifestyle. There is no doubt that the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care is a great believer in technology, the question is how we can use these innovations to focus on preventative measures that are targeted at helping people change their unhealthy lifestyles.

Using SMS alerts improves cervical cancer screening rates by 12% Women in London have already benefited from a new text messaging service for cervical cancer screening commissioned by Public Health England and National Health Service England, a service which is delivered by iPLATO Healthcare. Since the launch of this messaging reminder service, there is now clear clinical evidence

that lives have been saved by sending out messages to remind women to attend their cervical screening appointments. With nearly one third of eligible women not attending their scheduled cancer screening, Public Health England is using smart messaging to remind women about their smear test and in some cases allow them to book their test directly from their smartphone.

This BJC clinically validated programme improved attendance by nearly 12% in women with phones registered at their practice. The programme is now in place in nearly 1,200 practices in London, covering 1.8m women. The cervical cancer screening in London saves 1 woman’s life per week, if this was expanded across the UK it could save 1 woman’s life per day. This kind of technology could also be used to improve rates for bowel cancer, prostate cancer and breast cancer screening, as well as allowing recall and booking for diabetic retinopathy and AAA screenings too.

The NHS put the cost of late detection of the 4 main cancers at £150m per year, costing each CCG up to £1m a year alongside the impact on families and carers.

Following Matt Hancock’s agenda, a campaign on all 4 major cancers would cost £2m annually, with an ROI of 75x, and could save 1,000’s of lives per year.

Flu vaccination rates can be improved by 5% Some of the simplest measures where technology can play a part are in the reduction in unwanted demand.

Bolton CCG conducted a year-long study and showed they were able to reduce their DNA’s in primary care by nearly 20,000 appointments using SMS and data messaging. The easy use of reminder messages sent to patient’s smartphones meant that – apart from the obvious cost savings – they freed up appointments for those in need. At a practice level, this reduced the need to utilise and pay for locums, and reduced stress on busy practice staff.

Another group from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine reported in The BMJ that using SMS/ Data reminders for flu vaccination improved uptake by 5%. This is a simple task that practices can adopt and run in minutes. With Winter approaching, the NHS has shown the current 2018 flu vaccine to be 10.1% effective in over 65 years olds, preventing unwanted A&E visits and reducing mortality.

The more we can vaccinate, the more lives will be saved.

72% of the 13,000 mortalities from flu occur in the over 65 age group. A digital flu reminder campaign could save thousands of elderly citizens per year.

Switching to data messaging reduces SMS costs by up to 40% Many CCGs and practices are surprised by how much SMS bills have grown. Even with the National Framework Contract price for SMS set by EE/BT, it is still widely considered as costly, so many practices are encouraging a combined approach to patient messaging using a blend of data and SMS. The real secret to success is having systems that automatically switch messaging to the cheapest option (data) but also have great patient ratings for usability. Some data app providers have ratings as low as 1.5/5 on the App Store where as myGP has a rating of 4.6/5. The higher the rating, the more likely the app will be utilised by patients using a data platform meaning more money is saved for the CCG by reducing reliance on costly SMS. Some CCGs have been able to reduce their SMS bills by up to 40% through data messaging, representing significant savings and money that can therefore be spent on prevention and the promotion of preventative health. myGP Video consultation, Biophysical measurements and patient monitoring packages The myGP remote consultation service, funded in partnership with NHSE, allows patients to have video consultations with their own GP practice. This service offers remote consultation functionality to all patients without the need to change their current family GP. All patient medical history is available during the consultation, care is continuous and funding stays with the current GP practice, services which are facilitated

easily via the iPLATO Healthcare platform and myGP app.

In the North-West of England, a collaboration between iPLATO Healthcare and NHS providers (CCG/STP) has also been developing ways for patients to enter and capture biophysical measurements to patient records.

Patients can be ‘prescribed’ monitoring packages to enable management of their chronic condition, and their GP can now track the patient’s progress and see trends that require intervention.

As an example of cost benefits to the NHS as a result of successful monitoring of chronic conditions, identifying early exacerbation in CoPD patients can help to save some of the £500m that the NHS spends on hospital care.

Prevention not cure To summarise, it is clear that evidence proves that technology such as patient messaging can be used even at a basic level to save lives. From simple reminders and booking of screenings and diagnostics, to using data tracking and predictive analytics, it all makes a difference. This starts with giving patients tools that they find useful, can access easily and allows them to take control of their health care. With 21.5m patients in the UK already accessing the iPLATO Healthcare platform and having the number 1 medical app, myGP, Matt Hancock’s vision to use technology to drive the prevention agenda is realisable and deliverable……today.

For further info please contact Mike Lewis on Michael.lewis@iplato.com Follow us on Twitter @iPLATOhealth

vCreate – Secure Video Messaging technology, helping minimise separation anxiety in parents of children in Neonatal and Paediatric Units

v

Create is an NHS Trusted Secure Video Messaging service that allows clinical teams in Neonatal and Paediatric Units to send video updates to parents for those times when they’re unable to be with their child. Regular video updates provide reassurance and help minimise separation anxiety and can help to comfort worried parents and their extended family. Research has also shown this reassurance helps new mothers express breast milk.

Often parents have other children to care for and work commitments and they may live a considerable distance from the hospital. So being at their child’s side 24 hours a day may not be possible. When parents call the unit to get updates, busy clinical staff aren’t always available to speak. In these situations, nurses can now step in and send parents secure video updates of their child, from the unit directly to parents’ smartphones with the help of vCreate. Parents can login to the vCreate App at any time to see how their child is progressing and can leave notes and feedback for the nursing team. Once their child has been discharged from hospital, parents are able to download the videos and keep them forever.

Staff can check to see if videos have been viewed and additional features allow them to add on-screen captions, as well as seasonal effects where appropriate, like falling snowflakes at Christmas or hearts on Valentine’s Day, which have proved to be very popular with parents.

The system also allows parents to leave comments for staff, once they’ve viewed the video, building rapport and improving communication.

Security built-in As it’s critical that videos can only be accessed by the child’s parents, security is a key feature of the application, as Ben Moore, Founder, vCreate explains: “We have a security feature on the platform which ensures that all videos are internally published behind a secure firewall and are therefore only accessible by approved viewers.

Parents are given secure access to videos of their own child only. As more videos are created a story is formed of the child’s road to recovery. The parents can then take the videos with them when the child leaves the unit as a memento. The videos are then permanently deleted from the system in line with data protection policy. Although it may sound complex, from both staff and parent’s point

of view, it’s really simple to use.”

Success stories The application first launched at The Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow, which has the largest Neonatal unit in Scotland, in December 2016. Since then, Secure Video Messaging is now used in 30 Neonatal and Paediatric units across the UK with a further 30+ currently going through implementation and governance. vCreate is also in use at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia.

Perhaps the most gratifying measure of vCreate’s success has been the overwhelmingly positive reaction from both staff and parents. As parent Charlotte Hinder put it: “It’s heart-breaking to leave your baby in hospital.

He’s my most precious possession. Now, I can know that he is happy and being well looked after when I’m not there like when I’m looking after my other children and have to be at home”. Leesha Waring echoes that sentiment: “It helps me feel like my baby is with me even when he’s not. It shows me daily updates and how the staff are caring for him.” The vCreate neonatal story has attracted much media attention with features on national and local television and radio. In 2017, vCreate won the Health Tech News ‘Winner of the Year’ Award.

Future thinking Inspired by vCreate’s success in Neonatal and Paediatric units, many other healthcare applications are now being considered. As Ben Moore, Founder, vCreate puts it: “We have been approached by several senior clinicians from across the UK to discuss other potential applications for our secure video service. These enquiries have included clinical applications for Spinal Injury, Geriatric Medicine, Neurology, Critical-Care Transport and Adult Intensive Care, to name a few. We look forward to piloting some of these in 2019 and we hope that we will continue to make a positive impact on patient care, clinical outcomes and greater efficiencies”. If you have an idea for improving lives using secure video in healthcare, get in touch.

Email: theteam@vcreate.tv Tel: 0333 141 8422 vcreate.tv

A heart check with your smartphone: CardioSecur Active makes ECGs for private users a reality

C

ardioSecur Active is a unique system that provides a user having heart problems with personalized feedback to know if he should seek medical attention or not within one minute. The ultra-light and easy to handle ECG not only recognizes the rhythm and rate of the heart, but also lifethreatening circulation disturbances, thereby making it as precise as an ECG system in the clinic.

When it comes to a heart attack, every minute counts.

The longer oxygen delivery to the heart muscle is impeded, the more tissue will be irreparably damaged.

With CardioSecur Active, a heart check can be performed quickly and easily. All the user needs are: the CardioSecur Active app, a smartphone, and the 50-gram light ECG cable. The user initially records a reference reading at a point in time when he is free of symptoms, which then serves as the basis for the comparison to future readings.

The app is now personalised. All subsequent heart checks can thereby be performed immediately the moment symptoms occur. One of three easy to understand recommendations to act results from the comparison between the reference reading and the current reading: no acute changes, plan a doctor’s visit, or see a doctor instantly. The evaluation is performed immediately within the smartphone or tablet, which

helps the user make the right decision, often under critical circumstances. The high-quality ECG data can be shared with your personal physician directly from the app in an encrypted format. It therefore makes it possible for the physician to receive profound data from the moment of the event, which makes establishing a precise diagnosis and quick initiation of therapy easier.

Most competitors offer a 1-lead ECG (one visual axis of the heart) and require a fee-based call centre for analysis of the ECG data. CardioSecur Active is an approved class IIa medical product, and is the only ECG in the world that can record 15 leads with only 4 electrodes, can be applied by the user without the help of a physician, and provides an immediate recommendation to act.

The CardioSecur Active app is available for free in the App Store for Apple iOS and in the Play Store for selected Android devices. The cost of the CardioSecur cable, secure data transfer, and maintenance of ECG readings in compliance with the Federal Data Protection Act is €99 once plus €9.95 monthly, cancellable on a monthly basis. Regular delivery of disposable electrodes for six ECG readings per month are included in the price.

More information about the product is available at www.cardiosecur.com

New NHS Telehealth Service empowers people to monitor heart and lung disease – digital health technology

P

eople suffering from long-term heart and lung disease in Hull are invited to join a revolutionary NHS scheme to help improve their quality of life.

The Telehealth Service empowers people to monitor and manage their conditions and offers different levels of support based on individual needs. Ruth Bean, a 62-yearold retired office worker with emphysema, had to give up her job after suffering from breathing difficulties and chest infections.

Now, instead of taking regular trips out to see a GP she has been trained to take routine blood pressure and oxygen readings at home and sends these by automated telephone call service for analysis within NHS systems.

If readings fall out of range, a member of the nursing team is alerted and gets in touch to take the appropriate action. Ms Bean said: “This has made a considerable difference to my life. I feel that I’m in control of my illness now, rather than my illness being in control of me. “It’s a brilliant service because I know I have my medical team in the background. If anything goes wrong, they are there to support me and I trust them completely. “I wish more people with long-term heart and lung diseases knew about this service. My condition is more stable and I am more active than I used to be.”

The Telehealth Service is delivered by City Health Care Partnership CIC and Inhealthcare, the North Yorkshirebased leader in digital health and remote patient monitoring. According to personal requirements, patients are equipped with a variety of devices such as a set of scales, blood pressure monitor, oxygen sensor and forehead thermometer.

Patients test themselves during their daily activities and relay the results via the communication channel of their choice – automated phone call, smartphone app or online portal – for assessment. Clinicians are alerted in the event that readings fall out of range.

The service offers a 3-6 month educational programme to enable people with long-term conditions to become more independent and recognise their symptoms by enhancing their knowledge of their condition, avoiding hospital admission and improving their quality of life.

Bryn Sage, chief executive of Inhealthcare, said: “We are passionate about helping people to lead longer and healthier lives and giving them the ability to take control of difficult and life-changing conditions. “Our digital health and remote monitoring technology also creates capacity in the NHS for doctors and nurses to focus their time and attention on people who need help the most.”

The Telehealth Service went live in spring with more than 100 patients with heart failure or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Wendy Cuddihy, clinical lead for CHCP CIC’s Telehealth service, said: “We would like more people living with longterm heart and lung disease in Hull to join the free service and benefit from the opportunities to improve quality of life. “We also encourage doctors in Hull to refer suitable patients to the service and help create capacity in the wider healthcare system.”

For more information, please ask your local GP or healthcare professional about the Telehealth Service.

The digital deadline is coming: traditional telecare services switching to digital

T

here is a digital revolution taking place in the UK today, as the telecommunications infrastructure shifts from analogue to digital.

By 2025, analogue telephony services will be switched off entirely. This poses great challenges, but also offers huge opportunities for housing providers, many of whom rely on telecare alarm systems that are incompatible with an all-IP network. Whether providers are ready or not, the switch will happen, so it’s time to embrace the potential that digitally enabled care systems hold.

In October last year, the Telecare Services Association (TSA) released a white paper: A Digital Future for Technology Enabled Care, warning of the disruption that the replacement of the current Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) networks with Internet Protocol (IP) telephony would cause amongst technology enabled care (TEC) providers, stakeholders and the 1.7 million vulnerable people who rely on telecare in the UK. The TSA commented, “Technology enabled care, particularly telecare and telehealth, plays an increasingly important role in health and care. Yet it is threatened by disruption as UK telecommunications shift from analogue to digital.” Despite the difficulties we are presented with, could it be better to instead rise to the challenge?

Getting a head-start The ‘deadline’ of 2025 might seem like a long way off, but this it doesn’t mean that everything is smooth running until then. Steps toward the switch are happening on a nationwide scale, starting as early as next year, so housing providers must be ready for the changes leading towards the eventual retirement of their analogue systems.

Current analogue systems and products already cause call failures and delays due to network incompatibility, putting vulnerable people at risk. A failure can occur when a call doesn’t reach the monitoring centre, or because it was received with impaired sound quality.

By Tim Barclay, Chief Executive Officer at Appello a provider of technology enabled care services.

The life-saving potential of these systems cannot be understated, and digitisation could eliminate call failures and lower associated risks substantially. Instant call connections to emergency monitoring centres, allows older people to receive the help they need as soon as possible – in some cases increasing the chance of saving someone’s life.

Opportunities lie ahead The digital switchover will involve a significant amount of work. However, to focus on the disruption it may cause is to ignore the huge potential of digital services in delivering supported living solutions fit for the 21st century. Today, digitally-enabled care offers a vastly improved user experience from the typical analogue pull cords, pendant alarms and door entry systems of the past.

Digital services not only provide increased resident safety through faster call connections and greater system resilience, but residents and relatives will benefit hugely from room-to-room video calling to visual door entry and a whole host of new digital technologies that promise to improve the lives and wellbeing of older people.

Several progressive housing providers already recognise the benefits and have gone digital. However, for the bulk of today’s housing providers their telecare systems still resemble devices that have been in place for the past 30 years – with functionality to match. These systems are largely analogue-based and frequently incompatible with modern, feature-rich digital systems..

There are some who feel that digital services are not a necessity for everyone right now. But, why deprive residents, patients and customers of the wellbeing and safety benefits of digital systems while waiting for a slightly different or improved version in the future?

Technology will always improve, but the step change from analogue to digital is so great that waiting simply short-changes those who could benefit immediately.

Simply put, housing providers relying solely on traditional analogue technology are leaving themselves and their residents behind. It’s time to change. Digital is now.

EVENTS COMING UP THIS MONTH:

Mental health in a digital age

by The Royal Institution

Information Governance NHS Summit 2019: Ensuring Compliance with GDPR in Health and Social care 21 January 2019 London

15 January 2019 London

Digital Diabetes

by Yorkshire & Humber Academic Health Science Network (AHSN) 30 January 2019 Leeds

See more information on our website:

www.healthtechdigital.com

What to look forward to in the next issue In the February issue we will cover the news highlights for the month of January. We will be covering more ground-breaking healthcare technology in our spotlight section with a focus on robotics in healthcare. The next issue will be coming out on Monday 4th February 2019.

HEALTH TECH

No1 Business Centre, 1 Alvin Street Gloucester, GL1 3EJ, UK +44 (0) 800 772 0790 info@healthtechdigital.com www.healthtechdigital.com