People in Sefton can now help themselves to live healthier, happier lives using accredited health applications included on sefton.orcha.co.uk. 

Health and care partners across the NHS, local authority and voluntary, community and faith sector (VCF) in Sefton have worked with the Organisation for the Review of Care and Health Applications (ORCHA) to develop an online health app library tailored to the health needs of Sefton residents.

Dr Peter Chamberlain, local GP and chair of NHS South Sefton Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), said: 

“This is a fantastic development for people in Sefton. Health apps can provide people with important information to help them manage their health conditions and live healthier and happier lives through exercise and healthy living. The ORCHA Health App Library makes it quicker and easier to access safe, accredited health and wellbeing apps, which can make a real difference to people’s lives.”

There are thousands of accredited health apps listed on sefton.orcha.co.uk and they have been carefully selected to meet the health needs of people in Sefton. They include apps to help people with children and young families, to help people keep active, eat healthier or to support their mental health or manage long term conditions such as diabetes, asthma or heart disease.

Dr Rob Caudwell, local GP and chair of NHS Southport and Formby CCG, said:

“Anyone can use sefton.orcha.co.uk to access health support and information that they can rely on. In addition, we’re training health and care professionals in Sefton on how to use the app library to select specific apps that can help to support the people they care for. For some people using these health apps can enable them to take better care of their own health.”

Liz Ashall Payne, CEO, ORCHA, said:

“ORCHA is the world’s leading health app evaluation and distribution organisation and works with the NHS and health professionals across the UK. We continuously review all of the apps on the ORCHA health app library, ensuring that they meet stringent NHS guidelines, to provide health information you can rely on.”

Deborah Butcher, designate place director at Sefton Partnerships, said:

“Digital health is revolutionising health and care services, helping to provide care that is more patient-centred and empowering. The apps selected for the health app library are aligned to our local assessment of the borough’s health needs. They give our health and care professionals more tools to support care and they give local people access to reliable, accredited information to enable them to live healthier, happy lives.

This is another great example of how our partnership of NHS, Sefton Council and VCF organisations is working to improve the health and wellbeing of people in Sefton.”

About Sefton Partnership

Building on existing plans for improving health and care in Sefton outlined in the Health and Wellbeing Strategy and Sefton2gether, Sefton Partnership brings together Sefton Council, all local NHS, voluntary, community and faith (VCF) groups, Healthwatch Sefton and other organisations involved in improving health and care in the borough. 

This partnership is one of nine place based partnerships working within the regional Integrated Care System; the Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership that will be formally established with the passing of the Health and Social Care Bill.

Patients who are supported by the Wellness Improvement Service (WISE) at Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board will soon have personal access to a digital healthcare library, thanks to a new partnership with the Organisation for the Review of Care and Health Apps (ORCHA).

ORCHA is the world’s leading health app review and distribution company and has already created Health App Libraries and Digital Health Formularies in 70% of NHS regions in the UK.

WISE will have its own Health App Library that is tailored to assist patients who are on secondary care waiting lists within four separate cohort conditions – mental health, cardiology, IBS/gastroenterology and pain management.

The individual apps selected by WISE clinicians will offer alternative non-medical intervention to a wide range of medical and lifestyle issues.

It is becoming common practice that digital tools are being used to supplement face-to-face healthcare, empowering citizens to manage their own health and helping to reduce NHS spending. Health apps are increasingly being used to support patients and service users with long-term conditions such as cancer and diabetes, and with lifestyle changes such as smoking cessation and diet management.

Liza Thomas-Emrus, Lead Clinician with WISE said:

“Taking into consideration our holistic lifestyle medicine ethos at WISE and the rapid growth of social prescribing app usage in Wales, we are extremely excited to have partnered with the digital health experts at ORCHA.

“Our team views health and care apps as a crucial step on the journey to a more patient-centred, self-managed healthcare approach – something close to our own hearts.

“Social prescribing apps will also help us overcome the current post-pandemic challenges we face at Cwm Taf Morgannwg Health Board, and, with the future in mind, provide an alternative healthcare approach to our population with ever increasing life expectancy and more long-term conditions.”

ORCHA reviews health apps against 350 tough standards, including elements of the NICE framework – and only apps which achieve a score of over 65% for clinical assurance, data privacy and usability are featured in its libraries. Fresh reviews are triggered each time an app is updated, so that standards are maintained.

For further information please email: CTM.WISE@wales.nhs.uk

ORCHA is very proud to announce a partnership with Best For You: a new initiative from leading NHS organisations that will transform mental health services for children and young people. By integrating a range of healthcare services into one patient-centred model of care, Best For You will provide personalised, comprehensive and long-term mental health support to children, young people, and their families. The service will use next-generation therapeutic interventions and digital tools to provide the best possible care for patients – including the use of digitally and clinically assured digital health solutions from their ORCHA digital app library. 

This much-needed service is in response to the public health crisis surrounding children and young people’s need for mental health support. A survey commissioned by NHS Digital found that the number of children and young people with clinically significant mental health conditions was 50% higher post-COVID-19 than the previous survey three years earlier. New data shows that referrals to child and adolescent mental health services in March 2021 were more than double those in March 2020. Mental health has been a top search query in ORCHA Digital Health Libraries since January 2019; during lockdown, however, searches for mental health apps increased by over 200%. And this number is still rising, at an average rate of 55% per month. Best For You will help to tackle this issue through tailored, holistic care which seamlessly integrates mental health services and digital tools.

Data shows us that children and young people are both critical and vulnerable users of mobile health devices and software. While young people are highly likely to go online to find health-related information and guidance, many find it difficult to assess the accuracy of health information from the multiple and varied sources available online. However, the pandemic has also shown that many children respond well to digital counselling.

ORCHA already works with a number of child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) teams and NHS Trusts around the UK to create bespoke digital health libraries of assessed mental health technologies. Studies show that mobile health technologies can be just as effective as face-to-face mental health therapies. ORCHA also works directly with children and young people via its Digital Healthy Schools programme, which provides age-appropriate digital health education to schoolchildren. Anxiety, mental health, and depression are among the top five search terms across ORCHA’s Digital Healthy Schools digital health app libraries.

By including compliant digital therapies in its care pathways through the ORCHA partnership, Best For You can address the rising levels of children and young people facing serious mental health difficulties, while safeguarding them from any harmful digital health solutions. The Best For You ORCHA library can be found at /bestforyou.orcha.co.uk/

See how Hannah Silcock and the teams at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust are using mobile health to improve their services in this video case study.