By Sophie Davis-Cooper on February 4, 2021
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, community providers were challenged in the way that they connected to patients. The imperative was to look at new ways to provide safe and responsive care for their patients, by embedding digital technology within their clinical pathways.
In this webinar, we heard directly from the specialist community cardiorespiratory team at Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust as we look forward to a life beyond COVID-19 and what the delivery of clinical care might look like.
The team shared their experiences having successfully been using CliniTouch Vie, Spirit Digital’s digital health platform for the remote monitoring of patients with COPD and heart failure in the community to reduce the number of face-to-face appointments. The service was widened to deliver virtual wards to monitor symptomatic COVID-19 patients’ progress post-discharge from hospital and to include a virtual cardiopulmonary rehabilitation service.
Watch the webinar now
Our expert panel included:
- Chair: Pam Penn, Head of Customer Success, Spirit Health
- Zoe Harris, Integrated Cardio-respiratory Lead, Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust
- Alex Woodward, Deputy Integrated Cardio-respiratory Lead, Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust
- Dr Noel O’Kelly, Clinical Director, Spirit Health
The panel discussed key questions including:
- How quickly can vital clinical pathways be reimagined through digital technology?
- What will be the impact on patient and staff experience?
- How will this affect future preparedness plans?
- Will digital clinical pathways become the norm across services?
- Do patients deserve a choice?
- How can we ensure inclusivity?
- Will digital clinical pathways play a role in ongoing sustainability and system change?
The panel:
Pamela Penn
I’ve been working in healthcare, in and around the NHS, for over 15 years. I have specialised in remote monitoring and pathway redesign with NHS clinicians. I have a drive to deliver digitally enabled care to improve outcomes. This work has enabled me to allow the NHS to deliver care at the right time and place. I believe we must refocus and keep developing healthcare as the world and times evolve.
I am passionate about the mix of clinical and holistic activity that enhances healthcare and how we blend that into everyday life to improve patient outcomes and improve patient’s quality of life.
Zoe Harris
Zoe Harris qualified in 1994 with a DipHE in Adult Nursing from De Montfort University. Zoe went on to complete her BSc Health Sciences Degree in 1998. She is passionate about developing patient centred services, building and leading multi-disciplinary teams to provide the best evidence based care.
For the past three years Zoe has held the post of Cardio-respiratory clinical service lead in Leicestershire Partnership Trust leading the Community Heart Failure Specialist Nurse Team, Respiratory Specialist Team and the Heart Failure/ Respiratory Rehabilitation Team.
Alex Woodward
Alex Woodward is a physiotherapist with a MSc in respiratory practice and a post-graduate diploma in healthcare leadership. He has worked in cardio-respiratory services across the acute, community and private settings for a number of years. He has lead and developed a number of new community based respiratory and rehabilitation services nationally.
For the last few years Alex worked for Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust as the lead for the respiratory and rehabilitation service and has recently become the deputy lead for cardio-respiratory services.
Dr Noel O’Kelly
Dr Noel O’Kelly joined Spirit Health as their Clinical Director following his career within the NHS as a GP, GPwSI in Respiratory Medicine and latterly as an Associate Medical Director at Leicestershire Partnership Trust. He currently also works as the primary care lead for the redesign of respiratory services in Lincolnshire STP.
Noel has won awards for his work in redesigning services for long-term conditions within the NHS and has a passion for the use of digital technology within clinical pathways.
