Connecting GPs to patient oriented services in Liverpool CCG

Black Pear Software is working alongside More Independent (Mi), a Government-funded initiative, to enable GPs to refer patients into any of the Mi services.  These services may be conventional telehealth services or could even be apps e.g. for weight loss.  Currently we are working on the proof of concept stage, after which there look to be great opportunities for further developments within this service.

The Mi initiative is led by Liverpool CCG, and is part funded by the Technology Strategy Board dallas (delivering assisted living lifestyles at scale) programme.  It strives to enable citizens, particularly the elderly and more vulnerable, to live more independently and safely in their own home.  This is done through the Mi Person Held Record (PHR) and Marketplace Platform for NHS Liverpool CCG, whereby users can share their personal health, care and wellbeing information and access Mi approved apps and Life Enhancing Services and Technology products.

To complement this, CCGs need apps for the Health Care Professionals (HCPs) caring for this specific group of patients, replacing the dated methods currently in place.  Contributing to this work, Black Pear have attended a series of hackathons hosted by SiteKit to develop a proof of concept of a system that allows HCPs to enter a patient’s information into a digital referral form which is then sent into Mi’s system and onto appropriate providers.

This is a dramatic step forward from the current process of paper referral forms. HCPs will need only enter data once into the digital forms, making it of a higher quality and leading to a markedly swifter and more informed response to patient’s needs.

These advances in telecare are hugely beneficial both for patients and also to HCPs.  The greater independence it grants to patients gives them more control over their own lives, whilst secondarily it should serve to cut GP waiting lists and the associated costs to the NHS. This comes at a time in the NHS’ history when such savings could well prove critical.