We’re delighted to be featured in the Department for International Trade’s (DIT) ‘The First 100’ Digital Health Playbook among some of the UK’s most impressive digital health innovators.
The campaign, launched by the DIT, articulates the exportable strengths that the UK has in healthtech. It showcases those that stand out for being tried and tested, and, most importantly, making a difference across one of the most complex health systems in the world, during its most challenging time.
The picture of talent and innovation in the UK is a fast evolving one, with new pioneers emerging daily. Through ‘The First 100 Playbook’, the DIT hopes to reach out to those who are not just leaders in their field, but are willing to find new frontiers to make an impact.
The DIT has British Innovators who are ready to go global and connect with the ever expanding worldwide opportunity. Healthcare UK, part of the Department for International Trade, has invested significant effort, alongside partners, to identify, engage with and showcase some of the UK’s leading talent.
Digital Health is rightly seen as the answer to many of the challenges facing global healthcare. The role of digital technology in realising the dream of accessible, affordable and sustainable care has grown across the entire range of health economies in not only serving current needs, but in building the basis for the healthcare of the future: personalised, digital by default, and truly patient centric.
The innovations in the Playbook can offer support to healthcare in a variety of ways, from reporting data and using AI, pre-assessment, diagnostics and systems management, to managing staff at scale and collaborating. There are solutions to support people at home with self-care apps and remote monitoring and consultation. And see how future tech may transform healthcare.
Learn more about the services ORCHA offers national health bodies across the world here.
Mental health and stress management is one of the biggest challenges to the future of global healthcare, with mounting evidence that mental health problems have become even more prevalent since the pandemic. During lockdown, services turned to digital, switching from in-person help to a range of digital services, such as patient-to-clinician platforms, digitally-enabled treatments, mental health and wellbeing apps, chatbots and social support networks. But it can be difficult to establish which digital technologies for mental health are suitable and safe to use.
In this Digimed TV Broadcast, ORCHA’s Business Development Director, George Kowalski, discusses how digital technologies can address some of these needs and challenges without placing additional burdens on public health services and/or other health stakeholders. George also looks at the quality of health and care apps for mental health, and explains how ORCHA’s services provide quality assurance to health and care organisations and professionals. The Digimed TV guests also share their experiences of a variety of solutions, ranging from mobile phone applications and wearables, to immersive experiences linked to biometric feedback.
Click here to listen to George’s video presentation from 45:31.
Derbyshire County Council has joined forces with ORCHA, the Organisation for the Review of Care and Health Apps, on an ambitious long-term project to embed the use of health apps and online tools into its services.
A key part of this is the creation of a health apps library which ensures residents have access to a wide range of high-quality, quality checked, apps to help with their health and wellbeing.
The library forms part of Derbyshire County Council’s healthy lifestyles service Live Life Better Derbyshire.
Live Life Better Derbyshire is a free service which offers stop smoking, weight management and physical activity support.
As well as providing a source of trusted apps to the 800,000 residents of Derbyshire, the council has purchased 100 ORCHA Pro Accounts for staff members.
These accounts let staff in council teams to directly recommend apps, via text and email, to their clients.
Derbyshire County Council’s Director of Public Health, Dean Wallace, said:
“Derbyshire has always been proactive when it comes to public health and we see huge benefits coming from health apps.
“While Derbyshire County Council commissions a diverse range of accessible public health services, digital health apps can provide information and support when traditional support services may not be available.
“Lockdown could prove detrimental to some people’s health. Especially people who may have problems with drinking or smoking.
“Being able to recommend an app if they are unwilling, or unable, to use our services could offer significant benefits to their health and wellbeing.
“We are taking it slowly but we want digital health to become another health and wellbeing tool, and to help normalise its use for people.”
Former NHS clinician and founding CEO of ORCHA, Liz Ashall-Payne, said:
“There are lots of apps and online tools that promise to help with your health and wellbeing however it can be difficult to know which ones to trust when you are browsing through Google Play or Apple app stores.
“The app library we have built with the Derbyshire team will open up the widest possible range of top-quality tools, each of which has been rigorously reviewed against 350 tough standards, including elements of the NICE framework.
“It’s fantastic to be working with the forward-thinking Derbyshire team and we’ll be there to support with their ambitious plans every step of the way.”
Serving a population of 1.3 million, Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is an ambitious provider of mental health, drug and alcohol and learning disability services for people of all ages. It achieves ‘Good’ across all five domains assessed by the CQC.
Having listened to clinicians, people using services, and digital steering groups, the Trust set out its ambition to create the best personalised experience and outcome for people, leveraging the potential that technology presents to do things differently and in an individualised way.
This includes three main goals:
As part of this journey, the Trust looked to establish key digital foundations, including a library of health apps. The focus on apps reflected the growing use of health apps as an additional source of support, both within the Trust and among the general population, and sits well within the Trust’s early intervention strategies within CYPS (Children & Young People’s Services) where the platform is under pilot.
The launch of such a service requires a robust system to minimise risk, with particular reference to the clinical environment where apps may be used as part of professional practice. Areas of concern included clinical effectiveness and data protection along with a requirement for the chosen solution to be kept up to date.
The Trust chose to work with ORCHA. With a track record in assessing health apps for mental health Trusts, ORCHA offers a comprehensive app review service and uses a closed-loop process for quality. The Trust would benefit from the many thousands of app reviews carried out by ORCHA to date and would seek to be an active partner in driving future development of the project.
The Trust’s implementation of ORCHA has been led by the Digital Healthtech team and has been designed with young people in mind, reflecting the CYPS focus. Although the site is primarily intended for the local population to access independently, the Trust are also piloting the use of Pro licences, which allow clinicians to recommend apps from the platform directly to the young people they are working with, either by phone or email.
A small team of clinicians were included in the pilot, as digital champions, including Child Wellbeing Practitioners based in schools across the county. These practitioners are a key part of the Trust’s CYPS early intervention strategy, working 1:1 directly with young people. Working with the project team, the ORCHA champions have identified key points in the young person’s treatment journey where apps may offer a good fit. Following training provided by the SABP Healthtech team, the Child Wellbeing Practitioners are trialling the pro accounts in their daily practice.
The team have created a list of favourite apps, in consultation with ORCHA, and this is being rolled out to all team members, giving them a common baseline to work from and streamlining the process of recommending apps to young people. The Digital Healthtech team form a vital link between the clinicians and supplier, offering regular check-ins, further training and articulating requests for change.
In addition to the work with the clinical team, the Healthtech team have been actively engaged with promoting ORCHA with partner organisations and the wider population of Surrey. Most of the promotion has been digital, although focus groups with young people suggest they prefer traditional promotional material such as posters and business cards in A&E waiting rooms and GP surgeries – things that are simply not possible under current restrictions. Instead, the Healthtech team have had to find other approaches – listing the site on local council and charity directories, as well as making direct contact with schools, other NHS organisations, youth organisations and charities. A QR code linking to the ORCHA site has been added to the footer of all referral letters and a paid social media campaign is in the pipeline.
The promotional campaign was underpinned by the fantastic selection of digital comms materials created by ORCHA from graphics supplied by the Trust. The pack includes materials for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., and features the cast of characters from our ORCHA site, providing a striking and accessible digital comms package.
The Trust now has a library of rated and approved apps, removing much of the risks previously associated with including unregulated apps in clinical practice. Any update or change to an app automatically triggers a re-review, ensuring the platform is always up to date and governance standards are maintained.
Before the ORCHA implementation, informal lists of top apps were circulated by well-meaning individuals and were unverified – some were found still circulating two or three years later, leading to increased risk of inappropriate apps being recommended or of apps no longer being available. Implementing the ORCHA platform has enabled a culture shift, directing people using services, clinicians, and the wider population, to a selection of apps that is always current and underpinned by the assurance offered by the ORCHA review process.
Early feedback has been positive both from focus group participants and clinicians alike. Clinicians appreciate the pro functionality as it includes a favourites list, enabling lists of favourite apps to be saved and quickly accessed in order to make recommendations directly from the platform in just a few clicks. The platform automatically logs activity, such as recording recommendations made.
The most engaged clinicians are acting as champions, recommending to others.
Elzbieta Vitkauskaite, Child Wellbeing Practitioner, and health app champion said:
“Young people are always on their phone. So, apps are a natural additional tool to be able to offer young people to help them to encourage to engage with their support. Apps offer more control and flexibility over when and where clients can engage, and many say they prefer an app to writing in a worksheet.
“We have found apps work really well as an additional support option at certain stages of our client’s treatment. When on a waiting list, after their first assessment and at the start of their review period – giving them tools to use when increasing their independence. There are some fantastic apps that have worked very well.”
Through listening to the needs of young people, their carers, and the clinicians that support them, the ORCHA apps library is becoming an established tool, empowering individuals to access high quality apps as part of our overall ambition to create the best personalised experience and outcome for the people we support.