EMERGENCY CAR E
evidence-based decision making. This is already happening in the East of England through the NHS East of England Stroke Telemedicine Partnership with demonstrable success.
Predicting people at risk and avoiding relapse Technology could also be used to predict those at risk of relapse. The risk of recurrent stroke is 26% within five years of a first stroke and 39% by 10 years and yet many of these could be prevented if simple prevention techniques were adopted. Electronic health records (EHR) have the potential to provide additional information that could be used to predict risk of stroke and trigger early intervention – yet this is often still not utilised to its potential. There are further opportunities for prevention initiatives in the community, however. The Innovation Agency in partnership with the Stroke Association launched a successful ‘Atrial Fibrillation Ambassadors’ initiative in a bid to prevent strokes. Volunteers were recruited to use portable ECG devices to identify people who may have atrial fibrillation (AF). The initiative in the North-West Coast region is predicted to identify over 1,000 new cases of atrial fibrillation during the initial two-year campaign, which could prevent up to 34 strokes and save more than £750,000 in associated healthcare costs.
Adopting multi-disciplined approach
In many cases, stroke patients will have multiple conditions that all need managing. Technology can help to facilitate joined-up care and enable multi-disciplinary teams to work more effectively in the co-management of a patient. It is now very straightforward to host MDT conference calls rather than each consultant treating the individual conditions in isolation.
Connected health in action
Designed specifically to enhance patient care, Visionable’s collaboration technology not only connects first responders and emergency vehicles with remote clinical support during critical emergencies, but also supports sharing of patient information, medical device data and live video feeds simultaneously. 1. When an incident occurs: “See what I see” technology that connects those at the scene of an emergency to share live video feeds with remote specialists to facilitate collaborative decision making, getting patients the right care faster.
2. First responders at scene: With the click of a button, Visionable’s central platform – the Collaboration Hub – can be used to facilitate scene sharing, data integration and virtual user interaction to allow informed collaborative decisions to be made by the right people at the right time.
3. In the ambulance: Connected Vehicles can share and receive medical device information, patient care records and live video feeds with remote specialists for a full 360-degree view of the patient’s health.
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Digital solutions adopted by the NHS have too often been commissioned independently by Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), social care, care homes and other organisations. This has led to duplication in technology, or incompatibility between software – creating waste and reducing the quality of patient experience.
This MDT approach has already proven to be a success at the North-West London Cancer Network, for example. Using Visionable’s technology, they were able to allow any clinician to join from anywhere, while also allowing participants to simultaneously transmit large amounts of clinical information.
Continuous monitoring Technology can also help with the identification of those at high risk of stroke and, in introducing regular monitoring through regular check-ups, help to prevent further episodes. A quarter of all strokes annually, or nearly half of recurrent strokes, could be prevented through simple blood pressure control. The technology exists for patients to continuously monitor their blood pressure from home and yet this is not routinely offered. Additionally, as technology evolves there is the potential for this to expand beyond the use of wearables into the territory of smart homes that can facilitate remote monitoring of things such as gait and balance.
Putting patients in charge of their well-being
Many of a patient’s vital signs can now be collected remotely and recorded digitally. Patients are often happy to take responsibility for their own monitoring and, in fact, they want to due to the fear of a
JANUARY 2023
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