Health Call is a collaboration between six NHS trusts in the North East of England and technology partner Inhealthcare.
It represents the largest deployment of digital care technologies in the country and allows for best practice and diverse clinical expertise to be shared across a population area of three million people. A digital care service designed, built and deployed by one trust can quickly and efficiently be made available to other trusts in the collaboration. The approach overcomes the barriers to adoption of proven innovations in the health service.
How does Health Call work?
Clinicians design, build and roll-out digital care services using the Inhealthcare Toolkit, the first of its kind in the UK. The Inhealthcare Toolkit allows for services to be designed in hours, rather than months, and at a fraction of the cost.
Patient data is hosted inside the NHS network and meets all Department of Health’s guidelines for information governance.
Is it just for smartphone users?
No. Digital care services deployed by Health Call using Inhealthcare’s infrastructure offer patients a choice of channels. Patients do not need to have an expensive smartphone to benefit from digital care. They can choose an automated telephone service, SMS, web portal or app.
Health Call is made up of six trusts, including: County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust North Tees and Hartlepool Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
An example of Health Call in practice – Mobile monitoring of expected mothers with gestational diabetes
It pools the expertise and know how of trusts in the collaboration. The service allows clinicians to remotely monitor sufferers and empowers users to manage their own health. Patients test their blood sugar levels with a glucose meter between two and seven times per day. They send their results safely and securely via mobile phone app or text message for analysis according to rules set by clinicians. The mobile app is ideal for the user demographic. If blood sugar levels breach personalised thresholds, clinicians are notified and can step in as necessary with medical intervention, reassurance or advice about diet and lifestyle. Patients use the service to access additional information about gestational diabetes and increase their understanding of the condition, which can encourage healthy behaviour.
Examples of Health Call digital health services:
- Gestational diabetes
- Anticoagulation
- Undernutrition
- Chronic pain
- Falls
- Weight managment
- Smoking cessation
- Hypertension
- Flu vaccination