After months of winter, summer is a time when many of us take action to feel healthier and more energetic. But a gym can be too intimidating and expensive. Step forward: the inspirational charity Fitmums, that assigns a mentor, who, after a couple of coffee meet-ups, helps people to start their journey to fitness in a wide range of community fitness and running sessions. It’s partnered with ORCHA (click here to read the article on their website) to help its members access a wide range of safe and effective health apps to further embed health into their everyday lives. See its founder, Sam Barlow, explain why, and the results being seen.
What does a ‘good’ app look like?
Measuring the impact of digital health apps is one of the biggest challenges facing their adoption by individual patients and clinicians and the NHS more broadly.
What ‘good’ App use looks like varies hugely depending on the profile of the target user, the health condition being supported and what is expected from the app. Download rates and star ratings are open to click-farming and user reviews have no correlation with quality. This means that, today, there is no meaningful measure of App usability and User Experience (UX).
ORCHA is delighted to have recently been awarded a grant by Innovate UK, as part of UK Research. The grant will enable ORCHA to work with app developers and health bodies to develop a new, effective industry standard for measuring User Experience, which works for health bodies and app developers alike.
To help shape standards, we are partnering with The Hartree Centre, part of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), and together are inviting app developers to take part in the study.
By participating, app developers will work alongside ORCHA and key NHS leaders to help shape future standards. Involvement will also arm developers with recognised UX measures ahead of wider industry roll-out. As part of the study, we will be looking at tools, techniques and measures that incorporate a wide set of factors, including: user considerations, usage pattern monitoring, current UX reporting, what ‘good’ looks like in your field, and privacy considerations.
For organisations that are keen to participate in the programme, we will be running a webinar on the 21st August at 15:00 BST, which you can sign up for here. The webinar will provide more information about our UX Project, as well as our new and upcoming service, ORCHA Connect.
We also have a full project description and data specification available to those interested, so please email UXProject@orcha.co.uk if you would like to view these documents.
Please direct any questions or queries to UXProject@orcha.co.uk and we will be more than happy to assist.
Five top-scoring diabetes apps
According to Diabetes UK, 4.7 million people in the UK have diabetes, a number which has more than doubled in the last 20 years. About 90% of people with diabetes have Type 2, about 8% of people with diabetes have Type 1, and about 2% of people have rarer types of diabetes. Considering that the NHS spends at least £10 billion a year on diabetes, making up 10% of its entire budget, it is becoming increasingly important that patients have access to additional forms of diabetes management care that don’t rely solely on the NHS.
As well as reducing the strain on the NHS, more resources are needed so that people can learn to self-manage their diabetes. On average, diabetes sufferers spend around 3 hours with a healthcare professional every year, meaning that, for the remaining 8,757 hours, they must manage their diabetes themselves. It is here that diabetes apps find their place as diabetes management tools.
With over 300,000 health apps on the market, many of these aimed at people with diabetes, it can be difficult, if not impossible, to know which ones are trustworthy and effective. As the trusted source for health app advice, ORCHA has reviewed 60 diabetes apps so that users and health professionals can easily find the best diabetes app for their or their patient’s health needs.
ORCHA’s App Library cuts through the noise by showing which apps, out of the thousands available, are safe to use. Scored on Clinical Assurance, Data Privacy and User Experience, ORCHA has reviewed diabetes tracker/log apps, diabetes management apps, gestational diabetes apps, and diabetes apps that go alongside medical devices.
Diabetes apps can aid condition-management, give patients an informed understanding of diabetes, and, thus, provide additional support to professional medical advice and treatment. Below, we look at 5 of the top apps for diabetes management, based on our ORCHA Review:
Take a look at how we are working with West Lancashire Clinical Commissioning Group to integrate health apps into their Healthier You: NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme (NHS DPP) in order to help prevent diabetes.
Due to our continual re-review process, all app scores are subject to change. As such, we’d always encourage you to view our app reviews on our App Library, as this reflects Live data and app updates which are continuously changing. Our re-review process ensures that the most up-to-date information for the latest version of an app can be accessed via our App Library.
Bradford district has a young population and is set to be the youngest population in Europe by 2020. With a big digitally native population, growing-up with the internet and smart phones, the CCG identified the opportunity for mobile health apps to support individuals and professionals in the management of care. We spoke with Dr Taz Aldawoud, Bradford GP and Clinical Board Member at NHS Bradford Districts CCG, to understand why the CCG is turning to apps and what is important for them.