Highland health bosses are piloting a new service which will help support respiratory patients from the comfort of their own home.
NHS Highland has launched the respiratory virtual ward, which will utilise technology developed in Scotland to monitor patients remotely.
The service is being provided by Lenus Health.
Health officials hope to have up to 100 patients benefitting from the scheme in the coming weeks.
Michelle Duffy, NHS Highland’s advanced practice respiratory nurse, said the ward service will “build a more robust and regular view of a patient’s wellbeing”.
Keeping connected with patients wellbeing
“This is an exciting development for respiratory care in NHS Highland,” she said.
“We welcomed our first patients onto the programme this week, and we hope to have up to 100 patients benefiting from this remote monitoring technology at home.
“People living with respiratory conditions feel more comfortable in their own home with family and friends nearby and will often want to avoid unnecessary hospital stays where possible. This technology helps them to do that.
“By being more connected to their health care team, specialist help can be provided at the time that suits them best and when it is most needed. We are actively taking steps to make their respiratory care at home more responsive.
(2/2) The Respiratory Virtual Ward, provided by @lenushealth , utilises technology developed in Scotland to monitor patients remotely and could also support patients to be discharged from hospital back into their communities.
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— NHS Highland (@NHSHighland) August 11, 2022
“I am a firm believer in the positive role technology has in improving people’s understanding of how best to manage their condition and their health care professional’s expertise in how best to support them with that.”
Lenus Health’s specialised technology will support our respiratory virtual ward and give integrated care teams access to regularly updated patient and hospital system data within a single dashboard.
The innovative service builds on work developed at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde under the Dynamic Scot project.
The scheme supports around 600 patients with connected medical devices and wearable technologies enabling care teams to monitor health data, communicate digitally and initiate early interventions, which avoid hospital admissions.
Conversation