By Lisa O'Keeffe on December 20, 2022
It’s been the year of virtual ward launches, ICS formations and all change at number 10. As 2022 draws to a close, we’re taking a look back at the six biggest moments for our digital health team!
From running our first webinars and attending health conferences, to award wins and launching our most ambitious NHS partnership to date – here are some of our highlights from an incredible year:
-
Our LLR partnership launched
NHS Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland ICS is working on one of the biggest, most ambitious virtual ward rollouts in the UK right now, and we’re proud that our Clinitouch app is the tech behind the project. The work spans 16 digital pathways in total, across clinical areas including asthma, pneumonia, diabetes and colorectal cancer. 2022 has been all about planning, development and the first pathway launches, but there’s even more to come in 2023. Keep an eye on our updates blog for all the latest news from our LLR partnership!
-
Over 450 people register for our webinar events
2022 saw the launch of our new webinar series, focusing on sharing the innovation and learnings from our NHS virtual ward projects. We’ve hosted three major events this year, and worked with the HSJ to explore how to take virtual wards system-wide. Topics included small steps to launching a frailty virtual ward, lessons learned from our COVID-19 launch and our most recent session – helping patients understand what a virtual ward actually is. Over 450 people have registered for our events in 2022, and we’ve got an exciting programme lined up already planned for 2023…
-
Supporting North West Anglia FT with a COVID virtual ward
In February this year, we announced the launch of a virtual ward for North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust as the fight against COVID-19 continued. Clinitouch helped to make sure patients who were stable could be safely discharged to continue their recovery at home. The service also featured our Clinical Monitoring Team, who provided weekend monitoring to support the NHS workforce.
-
Awards success continues
Clinitouch was recognised in a whopping nine award categories this year across innovation, digital health and partnerships with the NHS. After success in the regional Medilink awards, we were proud to be handed the trophy by Paul Sinha for Advances in Digital Healthcare at the national event. We were also named finalists in the HSJ Partnership Awards for HealthTech Partnership of the Year, and were recognised on the global stage as a candidate for Best Digital Health Solution in the Prix Galien UK Awards.
-
Published whitepaper exploring innovation in colorectal cancer care
Earlier this year we undertook an exciting new project, working in partnership with Fuzzy Studios. Our innovation ‘pop-up’ saw 80 experts from all stages of the care pathway come together to identify new ways to improve the patient journey. After 80 hours and over 140 ideas, our whitepaper was published – and we’re already putting the ideas into practice with our NHS partners.
-
COVID virtual ward evidence
Evidence is crucial in digital health, and our in-house health economist has been busy evaluating outcomes of our virtual wards. In June this year, we published an economic evaluation of a virtual COVID-19 ward in Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland. The research showed an estimated 1,103 bed days were saved, resulting in net financial savings of £529,719. This is in addition to earlier research in 2021, which showed improved outcomes when using a virtual ward.
What’s to come in 2023?
We’re already looking ahead to 2023 and the exciting opportunities the new year will bring. We’ll continue working closely with our brilliant NHS partners, with new and existing projects already in development. To keep up to date with the latest news from our digital health team, follow us on Twitter at @SpiritDigHealth.
