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ORCHA’s founding CEO presented at the United Nations yesterday

ORCHA’s founding CEO presented at the United Nations yesterday

Liz Ashall-Payne, founding CEO of ORCHA, presented yesterday at a United Nations symposium on digital health.

The invite-only conference, which is billed an ‘intellectual supercollider’, was streamed by UNESCO to 150 countries.

Liz’s presentation outlined ORCHA’s work in the field of digital health accreditation and focused on its development, with the Nordic Interoperability Project/ N!P, of the world’s first cross-border digital health evaluation programme.

She said:

“I briefed the delegates on a cross-border project which ORCHA supported across the Nordics. I believe there are lessons here which could be relevant as we roll out safe digital health across the globe.”

The Nordic region, which encompasses Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland, has a transient population, so it makes sense for these separate nations to integrate their health systems so that citizens are supported on the move. Despite the 365,000 digital health technologies on the market, no standardised regulation or risk management system is in place in any of the Nordic states, let alone any shared standards between the countries.

The Nordic Digital Health and Evaluation Criteria (NordDEC) programme has been created by N!P together with ORCHA to unify digital health standards across multiple countries, so that safe digital health can reach citizens across the entire region.

Liz said that lessons learned from the NordDEC could now be rolled out globally – bringing countries, regions and continents together in a joint effort to get better healthcare to more people.

She added:

“The invitation to speak at this great event came via Martin Curley of Ireland’s Health Service Executive, after our meeting earlier this year. Thank you Martin for giving ORCHA this opportunity.”

Hull patients to benefit from collaboration between Patients Know Best and ORCHA

Hull patients to benefit from collaboration between Patients Know Best and ORCHA

The patients of Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (HUTH) are to be encouraged to use technology to help them self-manage long term conditions and wait well for elective procedures. 

Patients using the Patients Know Best portal to access their medical records and interact with the professional teams will be offered several opportunities, via the platform itself, to get free access to an ORCHA Health App Library containing hundreds of highly rated health apps.

Once accessed, using a straightforward search function, they can input details of their condition and quickly find digital health solutions to help them monitor and manage their symptoms, plus maintain healthy lifestyles through, for example, smoking cessation and weight maintenance.

This is a first-of-its-kind offer for hospital patients, which supports the NHS priority of tackling the 6.6m elective care waiting list. It also illustrates how NHS suppliers can work together creatively and productively to support the health system.

Lloyd Humphreys, Managing Director of ORCHA said:

Patients Know Best is an exemplary platform and we’re delighted to be able to offer its users an enhanced level of support via our curated app library.  It’s a fantastic example of how we can put new opportunities, literally, into the hands of patients – via their phones – when they are already online using a patient portal.

Sally Rennison CCO at PKB said:

“Recognising the role technology and data can play in empowering patients and delivering better outcomes is core to Patients Know Best’s founding mission and principle. By being able to open up more possibilities to patients to engage with technology and their data, through trusted partners like ORCHA, this digital ecosystem and supported, well-equipped patients can continue to grow. Knowing what makes good apps is key to continuing to build trust and engagement with patients, and we’re so pleased to be able to align with ORCHA who are the leaders in achieving this.”  

Independent research commissioned by ORCHA found that 60% of people were ready and willing to try new methods of managing their health, in order to help the NHS, including using high-quality health apps.

Neil Proudlove, Deputy Chief Information Officer at HUTH said:

“The NHS was presented with a unique set of challenges during the pandemic and tackling the resulting backlog must involve thinking differently. This is an example of creative thinking by two providers – collaboration has to be the way forward.”

ORCHA is now exploring how to evolve the patient experience one step further, so that the apps offered can be tailored to the patient’s condition.