Summary
Babylon Health and the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust have announced a ten year partnership to explore the application of an artificial intelligence app to delivering joined-up digital care for Wolverhampton’s population.
Reference
Babylon agrees 10 year deal with The Royal Wolverhampton to build an integrated, AI-based health app. [Online]: HTN: Health Tech Newspaper, January 24th 2020.
Further information on the Digital-First Integrated Care model:
Reference
The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust and Babylon to create the world’s first integrated digital health system to serve the city’s population. Wolverhampton [Online]: The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, January 23rd 2020.
See also:
Full Text Link (Note: This article requires a suitable Athens password, a journal subscription or payment for access).
Reference
Iacobucci, G. (2020). Babylon Health holds talks with “significant” number of NHS trusts. BMJ. January 22nd 2020; Vol.368: m266.
“The service, which is expected to go live later this year, will allow patients in Wolverhampton to access primary, secondary, and community care through an app that lets them book video or face-to-face consultations, access their medical records, use Babylon’s AI symptom checker, and create personalised care plans”.
Last year, Babylon and University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) announced a partnership, involving use of Babylon’s “GP at Hand” app to allow patients in Birmingham and Solihull to check their symptoms before attending their emergency department perhaps unnecessarily.
Residents of Wolverhampton have access to an online COVID-19 Care Assistant.
Reference
Royal Wolverhampton and University Hospitals Birmingham sign with Babylon. [Online]: HTN: Health Tech Newspaper, April 15th 2020.
Background related interest:
Full Text Link (Note: This article requires a suitable Athens password, a journal subscription or payment for access).
Reference
Burki, T. (2019). GP at hand: a digital revolution for health care provision? Lancet. August 10th 2019; Vol.394(10197): pp.457-460.
Background interest:
Reference
Cellan-Jones, R. (2018). NHS app: Will it cut down on wasted appointments? London: BBC Technology News / BBC Health News, July 2nd 2018.
Video Consultations (Babylon GP at Hand) Evaluation Studies
A cautious and balanced evaluation study:
Reference
Salisbury, C. Quigley, A. Hex, N. [and] Aznar, C. (2020). Private video-consultation services and the future of primary care. Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR). August 13th 2020. [Epub ahead of print].
There was an earlier evaluation report:
Reference
Quigley, A. Hex, N. [and] Aznar, C. (2019). Evaluation of Babylon GP at hand – Final evaluation report. Prepared by Ipsos MORI and York Health Economics Consortium; with Prof. Chris Salisbury for NHS Hammersmith and Fulham CCG and NHS England. [Online]: Ipsos MORI Social Research Institute / York Health Economics Consortium, May 2019.
BMJ comment:
Full Text Link (Note: This article requires a suitable Athens password, a journal subscription or payment for access).
Reference
Iacobucci, G. (2019). GP at Hand: patients are less sick than others but use services more, evaluation finds. BMJ (Clinical research ed.). May 24th 2019, Vol.365, l2333.
Coronavirus as the “driver” of the art of the possible?
Reference
Hutchings, R. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 on the use of digital technology in the NHS. London: Nuffield Trust, August 27th 2020.
Digital Patient Portal
The Zesty digital outpatients system will be used to reduce face-to-face outpatient appointments by up to a third over the next five years:
Reference
Royal Wolverhampton picks Zesty for digital outpatients. [Online]: HTN: Health Tech Newspaper, March 2nd 2020.
PRSB Developing National Standards for Social Care
The Professional Record Standards Body (PRSB) has been asked by NHS Digital to develop national standards for social care.
Reference
PRSB launches programme to develop national standards for social care. [Online]: HTN: Health Tech Newspaper, March 12th 2020.
The Greener NHS Campaign: Working Towards “Net Zero”
Incidental benefits possibly of interest, regarding the reduction of unnecessary appointments and the carbon emissions / air pollution associated with avoidable travel; for example by improved use of information technology and more frequent remote consultations:
Reference
Greener NHS campaign to tackle climate ‘health emergency. [Online]: NHS England, January 25th 2020.
