Swedish medtech start-up, Doccla, has announced a partnership with Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust (NGH) to trial remote smart patient monitoring.
The company is providing virtual wards built around the use of connected medical wearables in the home, to enable NGH clinicians to remotely monitor the vital signs of recovering COVID-19 patients and those living with chronic illness.
Doccla was originally chosen by the NHS to lead on a project to demonstrate the feasibility of ‘smart home care’.
And, since the COVID-19 pandemic, NGH has worked with Doccla to develop a remote monitoring system for recovering patients as well as the chronically ill.
Patients are equipped with smart devices to wear at home, which send information to clinicians to support decision-making.
A recent survey among the first 40 patients, as well the clinical team at the trust, shows very strong support for the Doccla model.
Doccla uses the latest wearable devices to enable medical staff to monitor the vital signs of a patient remotely, via a secure web browser, while the patient is at home.
The virtual wards mean trusts can reduce the number of vulnerable patients requiring inpatient care, increasing capacity to look after other patients.
And, with rapid implementation, and minimal effort required by trusts, Doccla can quickly reduce the cost and workload pressures on the NHS.
For patients, the virtual ward reduces anxiety and the need for hospital visits.
And the breadth of data gathered by the wearables gives the patient assurance their care team has an eye on their health and will be alerted if their condition deteriorates.
Chris Pallot, director of strategy and partnerships at NGH, said: “We are using Doccla’s solution to add capacity and improve clinical support, while enabling certain patients to stay at home who otherwise may have been admitted.”