Virtual ward company, Doccla, is supporting 100 heart patients undergoing ablation therapy to treat atrial fibrillation (AF) at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust as part of a new tech-led remote monitoring initiative.
Through the creation of a specialised and secure ’virtual ward’, UHCW and Doccla will capture electrocardiogram (ECG), selected vital signs, and symptomatic data in patients preparing for a cardiac ablation procedure, as well as safely monitor their recovery for three months post surgery.
Doccla’s tech-led virtual ward allows UHCW’s cardiac team, led by cardiac consultant, Dr Tarv Dhanjal, to safely manage patients remotely via its digital platform.
The team will track patients’ measurements and symptoms together on the Doccla platform using equipment including a portable ECG recorder recently approved by NICE.
Dr Dhanjal said: “This innovation will benefit patients by giving them the flexibility to maintain their everyday lifestyles without compromising their health while also helping us to optimise the care we can give through close monitoring.
“The ambition to digitise the pathway for AF patients stems from the need to understand more about the effectiveness of ablation procedures.
“AF affects one million people in the UK and, with the creation of this virtual ward, we cannot just keep a close eye on patients’ wellbeing through the process, but we can get access to valuable insight to help us begin to better understand the benefits of these procedures on people’s conditions.”
UHCW is one of the first trusts in the UK to be implementing this new technology.
Any abnormal readings are flagged and the patient is contacted to determine if any additional intervention is needed. Patients also receive regular routine calls from their medical team to check on their physical and mental wellbeing.
The data collected over this year-long initiative will also feed into an innovative research study into the effectiveness of cardiac ablation therapy.
Dag Larsson, chief executive of Doccla, said: “Our virtual wards use best-in-class technology to get patient information to the doctors and nurses at the right time in order to improve patient outcomes.
“Digitising remote monitoring allows NHS trusts to optimise care of patients, support communication between medical teams, and patients at home, thus enabling the effective management of patients’ conditions and we are excited to be working with UHCW to lead the way in terms of true health innovation.”
