Patients in Staffordshire are being given 鈥榞rab bags鈥� containing key tech equipment so they can monitor their own health and avoid going into GP surgeries.
The initiative has been rolled out during the Covid-19 pandemic by Dr Jack Aw, who is a senior partner of Loomer Road Surgery, in Chesterton and Haymarket Health Centre, in Tunstall, Staffordshire.
Dr Aw has been collaborating with North West-based agency Redmoor Health, which specialises in showing the benefits of technology to frontline health and social care staff.
As a practice on their own, Loomer Medical Group serves a population of 28,000 patients, but in the primary care network, including three other practices, they serve 48,000 patients.
The 鈥榞rab bags鈥� contain a blood pressure machine, a thermometer and an oximeter to measure oxygen levels in the blood and are being given to patients to take their own readings and relay them back to the doctor in a video consultation.
The bags are then returned to the surgery, thoroughly cleaned and given to the next patient.
For patients requiring help or assistance, a healthcare assistant, nurse, or any of the clinical team wearing PPE will visit the home of patients and do it for them.
Dr Aw started the trial with four grab bags worth up to 拢100 each but says it鈥檚 been so successful he plans to grow it to between 40-50 bags.
He said Covid-19 has forced surgeries to adopt tech and this is just another way of helping vulnerable patients avoid having to visit the surgery.
鈥淏efore coronavirus we were doing about 20 per cent of our consultations digitally and 80 per cent face-to-face,鈥� he said. 鈥淲ith Covid-19 we brought in a total triage model with 99 per cent of consultations being done by video or over the phone.
鈥淭he reason for going digital is convenience and efficiency. If we could do 100 consultations using the old system we can do 150 now.
鈥淭he worst thing now would be to revert back to the old way of working. We have a finite amount of time and going digital allows us to flex. We need to reimagine what healthcare looks like in the future and grab bags are just one idea.
鈥淭his is the digital frontier. I don鈥檛 think we can go back to the previous system.
鈥淲e have four full-time and seven part-time GPs looking after 28,000 patients so we have to be innovative in how we use our finite resources.鈥�
Dr Aw is also part of the North Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Video Consultation Pilot, which connects GPs to care homes via Skype.
Health commissioners appointed Preston-based Redmoor Health to upskill GPs and care home staff in how to use online video technology.
Care home staff are trained in how to take basic measurements like a patient鈥檚 pulse, temperature and blood pressure and give that to GPs.
Dr Aw said: 鈥淭he care home initiative is similar to the grab bags in that we鈥檙e able to see more patients and reduce our carbon footprint. Technology is a tool. It鈥檚 not the solution to every problem but it鈥檚 an enabler. Ultimately it鈥檚 about harnessing the benefits of modern technology to provide better healthcare.鈥�
Marc Schmid, founder of Redmoor Health, added: 鈥淭he ability to use technology to support the most vulnerable patients is a very important part of the battle against Covid-19. The disease has forced us all to change the way services are delivered and this great example is certainly one that primary care networks across the country are interested in replicating.鈥�