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.
ORCHA looks at more than 160 elements of an app, including clinical effectiveness, data security and
patient usability.
ORCHA looks at more than 160 elements of an app, including clinical effectiveness, data security and
patient usability. Here are three top scoring apps that are designed to help patients avoid critical
situations:
– Avoiding Diabetes – Liva UK is included within the Healthier You: NHS Diabetes Prevention
Programme. It’s a free app that supports patients in monitoring and managing their lifestyle.
– Skin cancer detection – SkinVision is a class 1 medical device supported by a team of skin
health professionals, to track and detect skin cancer.
-Suicide prevention – developed by Grassroots Suicide Prevention, Stay Alive is a pocket
suicide prevention resource, to provide support if you’re having suicidal thoughts, or know
someone else who is.
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.
Healthier You: NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme (NHS DPP)
Led by NHS England, Public Health England and Diabetes UK, Reed Momenta runs the NHS DPP in regions across the UK including West Lancashire. ‘Healthier You’ is a 40-week support programme which helps people make changes to their life that can prevent Diabetes. Once referred by their GP because they have high blood sugar levels, people are given a Health and Wellbeing Coach. They then go on a journey through 18 group sessions which cover nutrition, exercise and behaviour change, and lead to a healthier lifestyle and lower blood sugar levels.
Commissioned by West Lancashire Clinical Commissioning Group, the ‘Healthier You’ programme has been established in West Lancashire, where more than 5,000 people are believed to have Diabetes; higher than the national average level. To help overcome often life-long habits and embed new long-term behaviour change amongst participants, the team identified that health apps could strengthen the course. Mindful that any change to the programme must be based on evidence, it partnered with ORCHA who, as experts in the field, would help the team identify and select apps that fitted the programme and were safe, clinically assured and easy to use.
Alongside advice and worksheets, participants are introduced to apps that will help them apply the recommended changes. So now, during the session on being more active, they have fun comparing each other’s results on Accupedo Pedometer, a simple free app that counts your steps. Or, after learning the importance of knowing their sugar intake, they are encouraged to use the Change4Life Food Scanner, to know exactly how much sugar is in what they buy from the supermarket.
The introduction of apps has been successful; uptake has been high, and coaches report that apps are helping to better embed practical changes into participants’ lives. Later in the course, participants also increasingly reference information from an app rather than asking a coach, which is a good sign for self-management skills which are important for long-lasting results. Participants get their blood sugar levels tested at the start, half way through and at the end of the course. These measures show that the course is working and participants are preventing Diabetes.
Commenting on the introduction of apps, Rachel Gaskell, Health and Wellbeing Coach at Jon Scott, Health & Wellbeing Manager, Reed Momenta, adds to this: “The programme achieves results. Participants change their behaviours and across Lancashire lose on average 3.1kg, and in West Lancashire this figure is 5.4kg. Adding ORCHA to the programme further empowers and informs participants, providing practical support and engaging personalised information. This helps to make changes stick and become part of everyday routine.”
Reed Momenta, said: “Participants who use apps as part of the course seem to understand and engage with the subject better. They also have a clearer picture of how they are performing against any goal. For example, when we discuss the importance of keeping a food diary, those with the Calorie Counter app by Fat Secret, not only had amazing insight at their fingertips, but regularly monitored and adjusted their nutrition habits.”
Mike Maguire, Chief Officer of West Lancashire Clinical Commissioning Group, continued “To tackle the escalation in Diabetes, people need to introduce lifestyle changes that are achievable and sustainable. Adding ORCHA to the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme helps us to better deliver this. By including engaging tools, that people can access when they need them, we’ve increased the programme’s ability to deliver long term behaviour change that will ultimately save lives.”
Diabetes rates in West Lancashire – 7%
https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/lancashire-insight/health-and-care/long-term-conditions/Diabetes/
The national average is 6.6 per cent.
Read more at: http://www.westlancashireccg.nhs.uk/new-Diabetes-programme-launches-in-west-lancashire-52781/
Read about the author, Andy Jeans (Head of Implementations), on LinkedIn