A new app developed by a surgeon at Royal Stoke University Hospital is having a significant impact on waiting lists created by the Covid pandemic by simplifying the access to patient data.
The Remcare app has been developed by consultant spine surgeon, Dr Sandeep Konduru (pictured), with the help of the business start-up service at Staffordshire Chambers of Commerce.
Dr Konduru said: ”The idea of creating the app really came about from a need in my own clinical practice. I have always felt that the way we practice medicine hasn’t changed for decades and while the rest of the industry is embracing digital technology and automation, the NHS is lagging behind.
“If you look at any patient’s clinical pathway in the NHS, it requires multiple appointments and phone calls to collect the clinical data needed for diagnosis and management. This is a manual process taking up a significant amount of clinical time and resource and creating bottlenecks leading to delays in treatment.
“I realised there were several points in any clinical pathway where the process of information gathering from patients could be automated. I worked on the premise that healthcare providers could send various questionnaires to patients through an easy-to-use app so patients could give all the information about their health status and progress after treatment. Having this information to hand remotely allows healthcare professionals to redesign patient pathways to include fewer appointments, promotes patient self-management and allows timely intervention (due to real time delivery of information) while decreasing NHS administration costs and improving productivity.”
Dr Konduru contacted Staffordshire Chambers of Commerce back in March having heard about their help for business start-ups and was put in touch with start-up advisor, Aly Davidson.
“The help, guidance and practical advice I received from Aly Davidson were invaluable in starting my business, RUMI Meditech.”, said Dr Konduru. “Having a medical background, I didn’t know too much about how a small business operates, but I certainly do now. Aly was tremendously supportive, and I would recommend the service to anyone with a new business idea.”
Remcare is already also helping University Hospital North Midlands (UHNM) develop a service to assess children’s health status before coming in for surgery (children’s preanesthetic assessment service) and improving the data collection process from patients in the pain clinics at UHNM.
Early results from a pilot study using Remcare show that patients find the app easy to use and user friendly.
Maria Wyatt, preanesthetic assessment lead at UHNM said. ” I was very impressed with Remcare. It is easy to use and enabled me to action patient’s health issues in a timely manner. It will free up more time to deal with patients with more complex needs. “
If you are thinking of starting a business and would like to discuss your plans, contact start@staffordshirechambers.co.uk or call 01782 202222.