New technology will help save lives in NHS - Bryn Sage

Every year, more than one million GP appointments take place across Scotland to measure blood pressure. It is an essential part of preventative care because hypertension – high blood pressure – increases the likelihood of heart attacks, strokes and other serious conditions. Identifying high blood pressure and reducing it even a little can save lives, but when general practitioners are struggling to meet demand for primary care services, do these routine checks really need to take place in person?

Scotland is becoming an international leader in the use of technology to help people safely manage their health needs at home without having to attend face-to-face appointments. The nation has launched one of the largest remote monitoring services for blood pressure in Europe, which has supported more than 70,000 patients to date. We expect it to help many more.The service is part of Connect Me, the remote monitoring programme for NHS Scotland. Working in partnership with the NHS and Scottish Government, Inhealthcare has developed and expanded a wide range of national pathways for long-term conditions including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart failure and hypertension. Our enhanced digital approach is being offered to a growing number of patients to interact and communicate with their healthcare professionals, giving them more choice and greater flexibility about how and where they manage their health and wellbeing. So far, more than 12,000 patients have benefited from the updated pathways, including 5,700 patients with high blood pressure.The programme is provided free to the public via mobile app, website, text message or automated phone call, promoting digital inclusion for those without smartphones or broadband at home. It is being used to monitor the effects of starting or stopping treatments, issue reminders or encouragement, spot flare-ups so treatment can be delivered sooner, identify reasons why a condition might not be well controlled and offer advice and support during treatment plans.Benefits for patients include less time spent attending and travelling to appointments and increased confidence to self-manage conditions and care. Benefits for clinicians include better availability of data to assist early intervention, greater patient adherence to treatment, enhanced provision of care, net zero and productivity gains from less travel, more timely face-to-face contact with patients, more efficient use of resources and reduced hospital admissions.We believe remote monitoring is the future of healthcare and Scotland is leading the way. Our platform automates as many processes as possible in a pathway. This means clinicians can focus their time and skills on patients who need the most care rather than having to carry out routine administrative tasks.The technology is tried and tested and was used to deliver Scotland’s remote monitoring pathway for Covid patients during the pandemic. An evaluation for the Scottish government found the service improved access to NHS services and could be safely rolled out to help others. The study also found that patients had positive experiences of using the system and staff felt supported and engaged.Scotland’s national programme for blood pressure aims to deliver a pathway within primary care for hypertension diagnoses, intervention, treatment and ongoing monitoring. There are three protocols available for patients: daily, weekly or monthly monitoring. Ultimately, it is hoped the pathway will reduce the risk of heart attacks, stroke and other life-threatening conditions. This is how technology can help to save lives and create extra capacity in the NHS.

​Bryn Sage is chief executive of Inhealthcare