By Sophie Davis-Cooper on December 9, 2020
Spirit’s CliniTouch Vie facilitates continuity of care and detection of early deterioration while freeing up clinical capacity through virtual, home and community support.
Today we are pleased to announce a new functionality within our remote monitoring platform, CliniTouch Vie, that enables clinical teams to care for symptomatic COVID-19 patients post-hospital discharge. The platform can also support patients with mild to moderate oxygen desaturation levels who do not require hospitalisation.
With fears around clinical caseloads increasing beyond acute bed capacity during winter months, guidance from NHS England[1] is advocating the use of remote monitoring / virtual ward technology to provide care for patients with COVID-19 within primary and community care settings. CliniTouch Vie facilitates this by enabling clinical teams to remote monitor symptomatic patients’ progress post-discharge – allowing patients to fully recover in the comfort and safety of their own homes. The digital platform also provides early warning signs of potential deterioration, allowing clinical teams to appropriately intervene, be that through continued care safely at home or to facilitate an early hospital.
“The pandemic has highlighted the greatest need for us to work with our patients in novel and innovative ways. This virtual COVID-19 ward is an extension of our current urgent respiratory services to help build capacity and flow through our system. LPT is proud to play its part in emerging solutions for our health economy.”
– Professor Sudip Ghosh, Deputy Medical Director, Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust
Using a computer, tablet or smartphone, CliniTouch Vie allows patients at home to regularly complete specific COVID-19 question sets and take vital signs readings, including oxygen saturation levels. Clinical calculations automatically generate a Red/Amber/Green risk rating which is presented in real-time to that patient’s clinician via a dashboard with prioritised actions, allowing for immediate intervention should a patient indicate signs of deterioration.
This real-time, remote monitoring technology maximises clinical resource while providing the best levels of care for vulnerable patients, both of which are vital at this current time. Crucially, CliniTouch Vie also provides reassurance and reduces anxiety in patients with integrated messaging, video calls and health trend information.
“To help us better cope with the demands of COVID-19, we needed to transform how we worked with local community services. Among the different options we considered, we found that telehealth could allow us to carry out intensive monitoring of COVID-19 pneumonia patients who have been discharged to continue their recovery at home. This allowed us to optimise both our people and time resources meaning we could prioritise those patients most in need.”
– Dr. Irene Valero-Sánchez, Clinical Lead for the Integrated Respiratory Service, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust
University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL) and the Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT) are the first healthcare providers to pilot this new system, with the go-live of a virtual ward service for COVID-19 discharged patients on 2nd November. UHL has since referred its first 26 patients to LPT’s respiratory team for remote monitoring over a two-week period, six of whom have been discharged, with the LPT team already using CliniTouch Vie for the remote monitoring of vulnerable patients with heart failure and non-COVID related respiratory conditions.
“As our battle against COVID-19 continues, it is vital that we provide as much support as possible to both our frontline workers and vulnerable patients. We are proud to be part of the solution in maximising clinical capacity while helping to provide continuity of care for those who need it most.”
– Chris Barker, CEO of Spirit Health
Find out more about virtual wards HERE.
[1] NHS England, ‘Pulse oximetry to detect early deterioration of patients with COVID-19 in primary and community care settings’, June 2020
