What is the cost of a long-term condition?
Help us test a smartphone app to improve care for patients who need frequent blood tests. Please vote for our improvement idea here
We often talk about the cost of NHS care. For 2017/18, the most recent figures, a GP visit costs £37,while in hospitals it is £125 for an outpatient clinic visit, and £160 to go to A&E. We often hear about how expensive healthcare is, but often forget about the costs to individual patients e.g. parking costs, or buying lunch. However, there are other costs the patient has to think about. These are money or opportunities the patient gives up when they come to hospital, e.g. not attending work or school.
For patients with long-term conditions, and especially younger people, there are many difficulties not attending school/work. This particularly affects patients with blood disorders (e.g.hemochromatosis) or immune conditions (e.g.rheumatoid arthritis) because treatment (or tolerance of treatment) is based on frequent blood tests. Patients attend hospital a week early to have blood test taken so results are ready the following week for outpatients’ appointment. Imagine how much time a young person misses at school! Patients with jobs say they often take unpaid leave to attend their frequent appointments.
The Q Community is an initiative connecting people, who have improvement expertise, across the UK and want to improve healthcare. We have just heard the good news that we have been short-listed for a £30K award from Q Exchange
Ampersand Health has developed a smart-phone app used by inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients at Barts Health. This has been successful, and patients have been very happy using the app to get in touch with clinicians rather than attending quarterly appointments. This is what some of the IBD patients had to say about using the app
“A great app for IBD sufferers. Really well thought out – can keep track of medication, get daily reminders, upcoming appointments, a daily diary.. and also a way to contact our medical team” Clare, Colitis patient
“It’s changed how I think about managing my condition. It’s really a comfort to know my results are being seen by my IBD team, and it isn’t just a robot” Leanne, Crohn’s patient
“ I feel like there is an invisible person being a safety net for me. Should my condition deteriorate, there is someone watching and will catch it before it deteriorates too badly” Chris, Ulcerative Colitis patient
We want to see if we can adapt this app, to help manage the care of patients who need ongoing blood tests. We want to use the app in two ways:
- to order blood test for these patients, who can then get them done local to their homes instead of travelling to hospital,
- to review the blood test results so that the doctor can discuss these with patients and together they decide if it is important for the patient to come to hospital for an outpatient visit.
How can you help?
- Are you a member of the Q community? Please vote for us here
- Do you know a member of the Q community? Please ask them to vote for us.
- Retweet this with a message encouraging Q members to bid for us the #QCommunity #QExchange Tweet us at @WeImproveBarts
- Help us connect with patients who have blood disorders and who are interested in digital technology. Please email the weimprove team