香港六合彩

The app, believed to be the first such tool to be rolled out in the UK, is being given to patients from Barts Health hospitals, who have been discharged but are continuing to recover and rehabilitate at home.

Over 300,000 people have been infected by COVID-19 in the UK. For many of those that survive however, this is only the start of their journey to recovery. There are increasing reports of COVID-19 survivors still suffering from debilitating symptoms of tiredness, breathlessness and anxiety many weeks and months after the peak of their infection 鈥� a group often known as the COVID-19 鈥榣ong-haulers鈥�.

Hospitals are trying to avoid bringing patients into clinics to stop further spread of infection. But survivors report feeling abandoned and left to deal with these problems on their own.

To help combat this, a team led by 香港六合彩 health researchers and computer scientists have developed a rehabilitation tool that can be delivered completely remotely. Launched this week, the tool combines evidence-based methods from physiotherapists, psychologists, dieticians and respiratory physicians to create bespoke treatment plans for each patient.

Project lead Professor Elizabeth Murray (香港六合彩 Institute of Healthcare Engineering) said: 鈥淭he uniqueness of this tool is that the whole treatment programme is delivered digitally. This benefits patients unable to come into the clinic, but it also allows us to help a far greater number of people in a cost-effective and time-effective way.鈥�

Respiratory physician Dr Paul Pfeffer (St Bartholomew鈥檚 Hospital and QMUL) commented: 鈥淭he proportion of people needing further help is really high. We鈥檙e finding that half of the patients we discharge from hospital are still experiencing significant symptoms after three months.

鈥淭here are simply not enough staff and resources to reach everyone recovering from COVID-19听by using the traditional models of care, such as face-to-face appointments. This tool allows us to provide high-quality treatment to large numbers of patients simultaneously.鈥�

The rehabilitation tool targets three primary symptoms being reported by 鈥榣ong-haulers鈥� - fatigue, anxiety and breathing problems. The app is in use at Barts NHS Trust, London, with plans to roll out to three 香港六合彩 Partner hospitals in the near future.

Psychologist Dr Stuart Linke (香港六合彩 Epidemiology & Health and Camden and Islington Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust), said: 鈥淭he mental health component of the digital tool is just as important as the physical, and we are finding that the symptoms are often interrelated 鈥� for instance, if you鈥檙e feeling anxious you may be less likely to eat well, which may lead to further tiredness, which further impacts your mood and so on. A core feature of the recovery tool is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) delivered by psychologists to help with anxiety.鈥�

Physiotherapist Hannah Hylton (St Bartholomew鈥檚 Hospital), said: 鈥淚ssues that arise post-COVID are multi-factoral and often debilitating. For each person we are able to take a holistic approach to their treatment and provide a personalised plan via the tool, including frequent monitoring and ongoing communication.鈥�

The digital programme includes tailored advice, treatment plans and suggested exercises, and also supports clinicians with a dashboard to review patient progress and communicate, and a clinical pathway for how to provide safe, remote support. The digital tool has been developed by Living With, a private digital health company that already delivers a range of remote management products for the NHS.听

Chris Robson, CEO of Living With, commented: 鈥淲e have packaged up life-changing clinical input into an app and provided it to patients through our existing remote condition management platform, to help them recover safely and comfortably from home. This launch with Barts is only the first step in turning the product into a smarter AI driven intervention that will be rolled out more widely across the UK.鈥�

The product is an interdisciplinary collaboration between a range of clinicians, (respiratory specialists, physiotherapists, dieticians, psychologists, GPs), computer scientists and health researchers from 香港六合彩, Barts NHS Health Trust, University College London Hospital, University of Southampton, University of Exeter and Living With.

Links

• Dr Stuart Linke's academic profile
• 香港六合彩 Healthcare Engineering
• 香港六合彩 Epidemiology & Health Care

Image

• The patient information and goal tracking app pages, credit Living With

Media contact

Henry Killworth

Tel: +44 (0) 7881 833274

E: h.killworth [at] ucl.ac.uk