Hypertension Self Monitoring

Reducing Surgery Queues and Waiting Times

Remote monitoring systems are nothing new. Every time you look at the dashboard in your car you are using a form of remote monitoring. Energy companies give away free monitoring units to help customers save money.

Medical remote monitoring is quite different. Sensors under a mattress can monitor sleep patterns, heart and breathing rates and transmit the data to the doctor online. Pacemakers have systems that keep doctors appraised of the condition of the device. These systems are appropriate for serious conditions and are usually costly to implement.

Peope at home may routinely test their own blood pressure levels, but without a simple to use system, those results are not easily available to the local medical practise. We provide a fully integrated system for regularly monitoring patient blood pressure remotely according to a surgery programme set by the patients own local GP.

Patient self monitoring in medical practice

After two years of development there is now available a low cost home monitoring system for Patients to be able to take their own blood pressures and automatically send these results back to their Doctor as a comprehensive report.

This is a patient self monitoring system which feeds back to their doctor the results of a series routine blood pressure tests, very easily taken in their own home, in a relaxed environment, with their own equipment over a period of seven days.

In 2014 an estimated 27 million patients will have to wait a week to see their GP, and a routine blood pressure test uses up scarce surgery appointments.

Now a patient can take their own blood pressure and, using a simple but fully secure web-based system, send their completed series of results to the surgery as a comprehensice report.

Studies suggest that by placing 4,000 patients on this new remote blood pressure monitoring scheme could save up to 8,000 surgery appointments a year.

The system makes full use of automatic email reminders and mobile text alerts so that any extreme or out of normal range result which is likely to cause concern is brought to the doctor’s attention immediately.

Hypertention Monitoring is only one condition that could benefit from this new service. Diabetics blood sugar levels, routine urine tests, consumption of alcohol, any of these conditions are suitable for self monitoring – it is all about reassurance.

By implementing our system GP’s can rest assured that the patient is using the service (we tell the practise if Patients fail to record their results on time) and the patient will be reassured that their GP is looking at their data.

Of course the data is only as accurate as the patient who enters it in themselves, direct input devices could be slaved to this system, but at much higher cost, so of course this service may not suit every patient.

Cost benfits are significant. Savings are derived from needing far fewer surgery appointments, and the automated level checking alerts mean that the medical staff only need to review those exceptions brought to light by the system - rather than having to check every patients results.

No new investment in surgery equipment is required, but patients will need to purchase their own blood pressure monitoring equipment.

Access to our cloud web service can be provided at low cost. There are no postage costs, and not needing to visit the surgery can be a significant benefit for some patients who are infirm, live in remote locations or lead a busy work-a-day lifestyle. Reassuring all round.

To replace the surgery interview, a life style questionaire completes the full patient picture, this provides for a safety net which combined with the pressure figures gives the Doctor confidence in the recorded results.

Our Patient Portal Service

The monitoring of less serious but ongoing conditions such as high blood pressure and blood sugar is using too many appointments at surgeries where doctors are already overstretched.

Current remote monitoring equipment is too expensive for such conditions, so we have developed a system where patients monitor their own readings and then report them directly to the surgery via secure web-based software.

The system can alert the surgery if data is not entered when expected or that which is entered is a cause for concern. Its advantages are ease of use and cost - fewer appointments will be needed and no new monitoring equipment is required.

Reporting via the net is low cost, needing no postage or patient transport implications. The web service costs to surgeries will be marginal and both doctor and patient will be reassured that the condition is being monitored.

Home Monitoring - The Time is now

The prevention of both heart attacks and strokes (cardiovascular events) are some of the biggest health challenges facing our country. We increasingly know that effectively finding and addressing risk factors such as raised blood pressure, cholesterol and smoking can have a significant effect upon lowering an individuals chances of having one such event.

Blood pressure has traditionally been looked after by patients attending the surgery and getting checks performed by either their doctor or practice nurse. Whilst there is nothing wrong with this approach, there is increasing evidence that measuring blood pressure at home gives a more accurate reflection of an individuals “true” blood pressure. The more accurate the blood pressure reading, the more informed our decision making can be.

The creation of Patient Portal has been born from our desire to offer our patients a safe, secure, efficient and convenient method of both monitoring their own blood pressure and addressing all of their cardiovascular risk factors. The implementation of Patient Portal offers Patients the highest standards of clinical management.

The software side of the project has been developed in conjunction with One Vision Health, who are cloud application specialists that provide a number of digital services for private hospitals and Harley Street clinics. They are experienced in developing bespoke web based applications for healthcare and have a thorough understanding of the security requirements which surround patient data and consultation information. All systems utilise encrypted access, one shot pins and memorable words to ensure only the patients can access their account. Any patient information stored is fully encrypted ensuring it cannot be read should the service be compromised by hackers.

The aim of Patient Portal is to enable patients to monitor their own Blood Pressure, at times convenient to themselves, from the comfort of there own home, avoiding the need to attend the surgery unless it is clinically necessary.

Safe and Secure Collection of Information