By Sophie Davis-Cooper on September 4, 2020
From digital adoption inertia to embedded change, the pandemic has been the catalyst for health providers and clinicians to look at how we can use technology to support and care for our patients in smarter and more efficient ways. We were able deliver in weeks, what had previously been anticipated over a number of years, remote monitoring for thousands of respiratory patients.
As a business, very quickly we realised we had to adapt our implementation models mid-flight, onboard patients in a non-contact manner, change requirements, source hardware and rapidly grow a team and culture, remotely.
We responded, by adapting to a fully de-centralised team, proved it is possible to recruit and induct brilliant people in a hurry, broadened our supply lines, enhanced our service delivery capacity, launched two additional products (Digital Pulmonary Rehab and COVID-19 Virtual Ward) and forged great partnerships with healthcare organisations.
The team at Spirit have been privileged to support the NHS and are proud to be working on two projects directly supporting the delivery of patient care.
Project One – Community ‘Virtual Wards’
CliniTouch Vie is being used by clinical teams as part of the NHS response to COVID-19 and helping them to release hospital beds and manage vulnerable patients in the safety and comfort of their own homes.
We were piloting CliniTouch Vie at Leicestershire Partnership Trust with a handful of their patients prior to COVID-19. They saw the potential of the technology to:
- Monitor patients with long-term conditions at home
- Track potential deterioration
- Support patient self-management
- Reduce face-to-face visits via video calls
Then, during the onset of the pandemic, we:
- Commissioned CliniTouch Vie for up to 1,000 patients
- Implemented the service in just 3 weeks
- Onboarded the entire existing community caseload
- Supported accelerated hospital discharges via a virtual ward
Project Two – Care Home remote monitoring
GP practices across the UK were facing increased pressures to deliver primary care to care home residents. Both care homes and GP practices struggled to find solutions that provided care safely and effectively for residents.
In order to address this growing demand, Manor Care Centre, a care home in the small village of East Kirkby, Lincolnshire, has been working collaboratively with its local practice, Spilsby GP Practice, on the implementation of CliniTouch Vie.
Manor Care centre has been using the digital platform since May to provide continuity of care for its 40 residents in the safety of the care home.
“During COVID-19, it has become increasingly evident that digital technology such as CliniTouch Vie has a huge role to play in supporting the care and safety needs of patients in the community and clinical teams,” she says. “On the one hand, we needed a solution to deliver care safely for our residents during the pandemic, but the benefits in practice have greatly exceeded both our and our residents’ expectations to the point where it is absolutely the way forward, with or without COVID.”
– Kay Harrison, Care Home Manager, Manor Care Centre
The healthcare landscape has changed, maybe forever?
“We know digital health provides opportunities to accelerate our progress in attaining health and wellbeing related sustainable development goals.”[1]
Technology is evolving and barriers are easing. Undoubtedly this won’t be without its challenges and there will be further changes ahead to commissioning and procurement as we know it. Attitudes to digital adoption are changing. We know we must tackle the challenges around digital inclusion and make it accessible for all, and that we continue to engage with clinicians and patients.
To find out more about the work we do, please email us at digital@spirit-health.com.
[1] https://www.who.int/health-topics/digital-health#tab=tab_1
