19 July 2018
Professor Ruth Chambers OBE, Clinical Chair & Staffordshire STP’s Clinical Lead for Technology Enabled Care Services, opened the afternoon highlighting her vision for the role of TECs in meeting the changing needs within today’s NHS. Ruth discussed common infrastructure challenges surrounding TECs applications, including purchasing costly equipment, technical infrastructure, patient access to broadband, and interoperability within NHS systems. Professor Chambers highlighted to the audience examples of Flo as a sustained example of TECs where patients and clinicians are able to use everyday technology that is already accessible. Ruth also shared copies of “Making Digital Healthcare Happen in Practice”1 amongst attendees. The workbook is a practical guide containing advice and suggestions to improve ease of implementation with TEC solutions.
Following on from Ruth, Lisa Taylor and Karen Moore from SSHC led a session “Making eHealth a Reality - Learning from the Simple Telehealth Community of Practice” discussing key lessons learned from delivery at scale, plus an overview of the Simple Telehealth Community of Practice and an update around the outcomes from Flo’s breadth of use nationally.
Following on from Ruth, Lisa Taylor and Karen Moore from SSHC led a session “Making eHealth a Reality - Learning from the Simple Telehealth Community of Practice” discussing key lessons learned from delivery at scale, plus an overview of the Simple Telehealth Community of Practice and an update around the outcomes from Flo’s breadth of use nationally.
From hearing speakers on the day discuss examples of the impacts made around reduced HbA1c and anxiety, Michelle chatted about expanding her interactions with Flo to focus also on these areas. Ann provided a wealth of knowledge from a practice nurse perspective and also through her facilitator role focussing on overcoming barriers that can present in primary care with a pragmatic approach to common perceived challenges. Ann addressed a common question from clinicians around how they should introduce Flo to their patient, explaining that Flo is simply part of the normal nurse to patient conversation, and importantly that she describes Flo as an extension of her care, not an alternative. Ann’s message to clinicians is to start small and build up confidence, reminding us that “ If you’re confident, your patient will be too ” Ann has shared her approach to implementing Flo in her RCNi Primary Health Care Journal column “Being tech savvy-enhances the care you give”. Ann has also co-authored “You too can be a digital practice nurse champion” for June’s edition of Practice Nurse; which is available to view online for subscribers. This approach was used in the development of new pathways such extending the impact of their local diabetes education programme, motivating adherence to the pulmonary rehabilitation programme and reinforcement of strategies incorporated within “Confident Strides”, a local falls prevention programme. Vic and Kath have shared their insights in a recent blog available here.
“ Flo makes me do it, because I know I have to send in the values following exercise. ” “ Oh she’s lovely! I can’t wait for her ringing me up in the morning! ” | Nicky Harrison, Community Matron from STHFT, followed on from her colleague Cath, sharing the story of a patient with poorly controlled diabetes that had ultimately resulted in the development of significant comorbid factors that had eventually led to the amputation of both of his legs. Nicky explained that the patient’s character was known to be very private, and that overtime he had become disengaged with his healthcare needs. Daily visits by his Community Matron to ensure that he took his medication had become a challenge and sometimes not even possible as the patient wouldn’t answer the door. The team reviewed the patient and identified issues around the personal importance of his privacy, the patient feeling disengaged due to him experiencing a reduced sense of control, and the impact of spiraling comorbidities relating to his diabetes. The team also recognised that an alternative approach was required to support the worsening challenge of ensuring that the daily visits by his Community Matron were actually resulting in an improvement in his health. The patient was introduced to Flo as an intervention to try to break this cycle, supporting the patient to regain some control via an approach that was more acceptable to him and opened up an opportunity for the patient to feel more involved and less out of control. As a result, the patient’s HbA1c has now reduced from 120 to 64, Nicky also commented that his cholesterol has also reduced. Nicky described how, because the patient is understandably feeling better than he had been, he is able to get out and about more and becoming less isolated as a result. This demonstrates how Flo’s interventions can provide the opportunity to take a holistic approach to patient care and offer a tool for clinicians to unlock challenges with complex patients. Morag then spoke to attendees specifically to share NHS Lanarkshire’s approach to both scale up and sustainability of use. Morag explained that Flo was now implemented across 77 out of 104 GP practices across the region, as well as a further 36 groups in other areas across health and social care. Morag also discussed NHS Lanarkshire’s Scale-Up BP Programme, which has seen over 2000 patients access Flo to be able to monitor their blood pressure at home, with evaluation demonstrating a saving of around 7000 practice appointments. To read more about Lanarkshire’s journey with Flo, please click here. |