We're currently making some changes in the background of our email updates to solve some problems we've been having recently. During our testing phase this may automatically generate some alerts, which will show below, but you can ignore these! If all goes according to plan we will be resuming normal service in the next week…
Older patients and people with long term conditions and mental health problems will be among the first to benefit from a major new drive to modernise how the NHS delivers care.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos today (Friday 22nd), NHS England Chief Executive Simon Stevens will launch the first wave of NHS Innovation ‘Test Beds’.
These collaborations between the NHS and innovators – including Verily (formerly Google Life Sciences), IBM and Philips – aim to harness technology to address some of the most complex issues facing patients and the health service.
Frontline health and care workers in seven areas will pioneer and evaluate the use of novel combinations of interconnected devices such as wearable monitors, data analysis and ways of working which will help patients stay well and monitor their conditions themselves at home.
An app to facilitate discussion about female genital mutilation (FGM) between health professionals and the people they serve is currently being tested across Oxfordshire.
There are three strands to the services – care navigation, health coaching and tele-health vital sign monitoring – all of which are funded by the Bassetlaw Clinical Commissioning Group. Care navigation involves telephonic sign-posting, giving information and advice to patients previously diagnosed with a long term condition. Those people who identify a health-related goal to work towards use the health coaching service which encourages positive lifestyle behaviour change. Tele health vital sign monitoring uses equipment in the home to monitor vital signs and warn healthcare professionals if they need to take action.
This online consultation toolkit is an interactive document that provides a range of ideas and options for different professionals, including clinicians, at different points in their implementation journey.
We'd like to hear your suggestions for new book alert topics. Simply reply to this email with 'Book Alert Topic' and your suggestions. You can also view and sign-up to our current new book alerts here: http://library.sssft.nhs.uk/librarykeepuptodate
The scheme, called telehealth, which is currently being piloted, involves a triage room in Waterloo House GP Surgery in Millom which is equipped with a High Definition camera and monitor. There is a similar facility at the Emergency Department in Furness General Hospital to allow two way consultations to take place.
The project aims to deliver faster access for people to the most appropriate Healthcare Professional, and where possible reduce the time and effort required for them in order to do so.
Come and visit our first pop-up library at Severn Fields, Shrewsbury 19th July 11.00am-3.00pm. Join the library, borrow and return books, get help finding information and evidence, set up an Athens account, find out what the library can do for you and your team.
The service ‘Advice and Guidance’ offers the opportunity for GPs across Morecambe Bay to hold a secure electronic ‘conversation’ with a hospital specialist to obtain real time advice about a patient’s condition. This can often enable a patient to be managed under the care of their local GP.
We've added 10 new Be Aware updates following your suggestions:
Musculoskeletal ; Osteoporosis ; Nutrition and obesity ; Falls ; HR ; Research Methods ; Information Governance ; Bladder, bowel and pelvic healthcare ; Rheumatology ; Medicines and healthcare products regulatory agency (circulated email)
A pilot scheme in Newham helping young people keep on top of their diabetes care has rolled out Skype appointments to all patients as part of a successful four year trial.
Since launch in 2011 the Diabetes Appointments via Webcam in Newham (DAWN) scheme, web-based follow up is used routinely for young people aged 16-25 years, and 480 webcam appointments have been carried out, reducing ‘do not attends’ (DNA’s) from 30-50 per cent to 16 per cent.
The service was set up with the Health Foundation’s SHINE award (£75,000) and is thought to increase productivity and patient throughput by 22% – 28%, saving approximately £27 per consultant appointment in clinician time.
The service is offered by the Diabetes team at Newham University Hospital, Barts Health and supported by East London NHS Foundation Trust and Newham Clinical Commissioning Group
Two £25 vouchers are up for grabs in the library’s ‘Making the Most of Information’ survey.
To take part, just visit http://goo.gl/AdN4ok by Friday 19th February.
As part of Better Care Together, Cumbria Health on Call (CHOC) has created a short film introducing the new virtual out of hours GP appointments that can be offered by a state of the art video link between Millom Community Hospital and Cumbria Health on Call (CHOC) headquarters in Carlisle.
This development for patients in Millom is thanks to work done within the Millom Alliance including a partnership between Better Care Together and Cumbria Health on Call (CHOC).
1st two CQC inspections were for Dr Now digital apps. You can request a copy of this article by replying to this email. Please be clear which article you are requesting.
We undertook a scoping review of the published literature to identify and summarise key findings on the telehealth interventions that influence waiting times or waiting lists for specialist outpatient services. Searches were conducted to identify relevant articles. Articles were included if the telehealth intervention restructured or made the referral process more efficient. We excluded studies that simply increased capacity. You can request a copy of this article by replying to this email. Please be clear which article you are requesting.
The authors point out that whereas digital technology is transforming almost all areas of our lives – enabling us to order shopping online or book airline tickets, for example – its use in the NHS is still limited. They explore the evidence to date from seven types of technology for patients in primary care, including online triage programmes such as symptom-checkers, so-called ‘wearable technology’ like Fitbits, online GP appointment booking, video consultations, and health-related apps.
Here is a round up under the key themes and areas identified by Simon Stevens with links to services and solutions [some digital] that work.
Includes sections for mental health services, dementia, end of life care, primary care, discharge planning/frailty.
Telehealth, which already helps thousands of patients with long-term conditions to be cared for in their own homes, allows the patient to remotely provide daily data to nurses and clinicians to monitor their condition. Conditions already monitored by Telehealth include diabetes, epilepsy and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Cornwall is the first county in England to use Telehealth to help patients manage urinary tract infections (UTIs).
We’ve just heard that SSOTP will not be renewing their agreement with SSSFT LKS for library services for this financial year. Because of this we will be reviewing our Be Aware bulletins. Sadly we won’t be accepting any new sign-ups from SSOTP staff and will be withdrawing some of the physical healthcare bulletins that we…
The new report, ‘Nursing in the Digital Age – Using Technology to Support Patients at Home’ is based on a survey of over 500 nurses working in the community, the document revisits a subject first analysed by the QNI in its 2012 publication, ‘Smart New World’.
The new report seeks to determine how far new healthcare information technology has changed in the previous six years and how skills and attitudes within community services have adapted.
Patients in north Staffordshire are benefitting from advancements in digital technology being used to connect patients with GPs at the click of a button.
The ‘Skype to Care Home’ programme aims to link care home residents and primary care clinicians by conducting video consultations through medium of Skype. There are currently 16 care homes and 12 GP practices in north Staffordshire taking part in the programme.
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Virtual out of hours GP appointments are now being offered by a state of the art video link between Millom Community Hospital and Cumbria Health on Call (CHOC) headquarters in Carlisle.
This development for patients in Millom is thanks to work done within the Millom Alliance including a partnership between Better Care Together and Cumbria Health on Call (CHOC).
It means that some patients can avoid a 45 minute journey to attend a face to face appointment at Furness General Hospital.
Last year I was exposed to a hugely positive experience of using digital collaboration tools for the first time within my work in the NHS [adult and older people's community services]
This made me realise that the tools I have routinely and unquestioningly used for years (email and documents) are hopelessly ineffective for the work that I do.
We used Confluence, a wiki (which is a website that anyone can edit), and Slack a group messaging service.
We found that Confluence could replace documents, email and big meetings; Slack could replace email, SMS and small meetings.
Those of us who used the tools, worked more effectively together, saved time and felt better connected. The benefits were that… – we had more productive meetings, as many routine transactions were dealt with outside of the meeting room people could make their voice heard without having to attend face-to-face meetings and could participate in discussions at times which suited them – we reached consensus quicker without having to wait to set up meetings, or to manage complex email discussions – we involved others outside of our usual sphere of influence – we had a permanent and readily visible record of discussions – we received fewer emails, since we could choose to receive updates only about things we were interested in – we could get messages to large numbers of people quickly. Over about a year we managed to get about 250 people using Confluence and about 50 using Slack. Enough to be significant.
[Swedish research] Video consultation is a satisfactory tool for healthcare personnel, and the technology is a new, useful method, especially for the district nurses. Further, video consultation is an opportunity for healthcare personnel to learn. However, for it to work as an accepted method, the technology must function well and be user friendly. It must also be clear that it is beneficial for the patients and the healthcare personnel. Please contact the library to receive a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
How do you use information for your work and CPD? What do you think of MPFT library services? Tell us here and you could win £25 vouchers: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/B2JVNPR
NHS doctors and nurses are using Skype to help older people get faster care, reduce avoidable ambulance call-outs and help people stay out of hospital.
The on-call Skype NHS team takes around 8,000 calls a year from wardens working in sheltered accommodation, care home staff and community teams looking for expert support for their residents.
Scheme running in Tameside (Greater Manchester).
We're expanding our Be Aware updates and want to know what physical health topics you'd like to keep updated on. Let us know your ideas by replying to this email with 'physical health topics' followed by your suggestions