10 • Profile
VIRTUAL CARE H
IS fascination for digital innovation began as a boy while living in the global technology hub of Singapore, now three decades on Dr Keith Grimes has gone from gamer and geek to digital healthcare innovator. Speaking on his work smartphone – which he uses daily to help treat patients at his East Sussex surgery – it’s clear
that Dr Grimes has a passion for the digital revolution. “I was a geek and a gamer long before I was a doctor,” he says. “I am
always trying to bring it into what I do but I appreciate that if I want to share the positives, I have to do it in the most lightweight way. “Doctors use the internet, WhatsApp – all those different
technologies outside work – yet think that they can’t use it in work. There are of course important considerations around data protection and confidentiality, but that doesn’t mean that you cannot do it.”
Integrating technology In demand as a conference speaker at home and abroad, Dr Grimes offers a telling example of how technology can be integrated into general practice to enhance patient care. His smartphone is fast becoming as vital a diagnostic tool as traditional tools like the stethoscope. The 43-year-old says: “I use my mobile phone for a lot of what I do
Self-confessed geek Dr Keith Grimes talks about his mission to more fully integrate digital technology into the GP consulting room
either for information storage, contacting colleagues or, more recently, as a medical device. I use Cupris, a digital otoscope, to look inside people’s ears and take photos and videos that I can share with the patient, which a normal otoscope does not do. “I can then securely transfer that image on to the clinical system or
share to
NHS.net or with ENT colleagues. I have even avoided an unnecessary patient hospital admission because I was able to send an image to the ENT doctor for his opinion.
PHOTO: TIM DUNK
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