Tag: Pogo Digital Healthcare

New Digital Stroke-Management Pathway launched in Lothian

A new digital pathway aimed at supporting stroke survivors has launched today (Friday 21 June) in Lothian.

The ‘Life After Stroke’ Pathway has been developed by a partnership comprising health charity Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland, NHS Lothian and Pogo Digital Healthcare.

The pathway provides stroke survivors tailored information based on their personal experiences, symptoms, and concerns in order to better manage their condition, alongside support from the Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland stroke nursing team who provide follow up support in the community.

When onboarded to the pathway, patients receive a self-assessment questionnaire to inform the health information they will receive.  These questionnaires will be sent out bi-monthly to track changes in symptoms over time. Information will be sent to patients in the form of short slide presentations, which provide medical & health information, guidance, and signposting to further resources.

The Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland nursing team will be able to utilise the outcomes of the self-assessment questionnaires to better inform and tailor the support, education and advice that patients receive to support recovery.

Patients will only receive talks that are relevant to them, to avoid information overload and only focus on what matters to each patient. These tailored talks will be stored in the patient’s personal online portal, which can be easily accessed and referred to at any time.

Stroke survivor Jeremy Dearling, 67, was involved in the creation of the pathway as a public contributor.

Speaking about the launch, he said: “I have been delighted to have been part of the team developing this pathway with Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland, a much-needed resource for survivors of stroke. 

“As a public contributor, I have not only been heard and listened to, but as someone with lived experience of a brain injury and who was a staff nurse on a stroke ward, I have found a generous welcome to the team. 

“There is a huge amount of support on offer using the newly launched Life After Stroke programme that is in addition to the existing resources available on the CHSS website. A stroke can be an isolating experience, unnecessarily so, so if you have had a stroke or care for someone with one, make use of the help available”.

Joanne Graham, Director of Service Delivery, at Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland said: “We are delighted to be able to build on our existing relationship with NHS Lothian to support individuals post stroke through this digital pathway. 

“Providing tailored health Information as early as possible is critical to support people to self manage their condition. This pathway will further support our charity’s mission to ensure every person with one of our conditions has access to quality supported self management and community recovery as part of our community health care support service.”

Jack Francis, CEO of Pogo Digital Healthcare, said: “I am delighted to be extending our digital self-management tool into a new Stroke pathway.

“ As someone whose family was negatively impacted by a stroke, it is brilliant to be involved in a project that will give people and their families the support and information they need.”

Dr Charlie Chung, AHP Stroke Strategic Lead and Consultant Occupation Therapist at NHS Lothian said: “I am excited that the Life After Stroke digital pathway will commence testing with the staff and patients of the stroke unit in the Royal Infirmary.

“Stroke survivors consistently report that targeted and relevant information about their stroke would have been valuable at the time of their admission to hospital but provision was inconsistent. 

“A key objective is that information provision will not happen by chance, but will be a routine part of service delivery which will ultimately support the self-management of stroke survivors.”

MyTailoredTalks: new digital support for people living with Long Covid

An innovative pilot project to transform support for Long Covid patients in Scotland is underway to improve care for people living with the condition and dramatically relieve the pressure on GPs.

NHS Lothian has been working with Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland (CHSS) and Pogo Digital Healthcare to deliver a ground-breaking digital platform that brings primary care and third sector services seamlessly together for the first time.

The platform, called ‘MyTailoredTalks’, has been developed by Pogo Digital Healthcare and has been jointly funded by NHS Lothian, CHSS and the NHS Lothian Charity (formerly Edinburgh and Lothians Health Foundation) – with £120,000 invested in the platform so far.

It will allow GPs and other clinicians to refer patients automatically to the CHSS’s Long Covid support services and to provide tailored self-management information to patients.

Over 70 patients are taking part in the pilot across 26 GP practices in the region.

The team behind the project is appealing for partners to expand the ground-breaking innovation beyond Lothian so that everyone with Long Covid in Scotland can get better access to support.

Lothian-based GP Amy Small is living with Long Covid. She has been at the heart of developing the new system. She said: “As a GP and someone living with Long Covid this new digital system will be hugely beneficial to patients and primary care.

 “It’s a big breakthrough in integrated care. It gives patients direct access to support to help manage their condition.

 “GPs will also now be able to seamlessly refer their patients through to the charity’s Long Covid Support Service which provides one-to-one support and advice from experienced advisors who can provide more time to the patients than GPs can.”

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf welcomed the project. He said: “Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland’s Long Covid support service not only supports people living with Long Covid, but also helps reduce some of the pressure on NHS services. That is why we have funded and continue to support Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland to deliver a Long Covid Support Service.

“I welcome this collaboration and investment. This kind of digital innovation is just one example of the flexible way in which our NHS boards across Scotland are adapting to meet the needs of people with Long Covid. We are spending £3m this year to support NHS boards like NHS Lothian to develop and deliver the best models of care appropriate for their local population’s needs.

“I look forward to seeing the full results of the pilot exercise and we are committed to working closely with Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland to share the learning generated from it to support the sustainability of our health services.” 

Professor Tim Walsh, Director of Innovation for NHS Lothian, said: “This project shows what can be achieved by the NHS, patients, charities and digital expertise working closely together to find innovative solutions.

 “The personalised ‘MyTailoredTalks’ have been designed to provide trusted ‘bite sized’ information for patients to access whenever they need to and be able to share with family or friends.

 “We hope that these, together with the holistic support CHSS offer, will make a real difference to people living with Long Covid.”

Allan Cowie, interim chief executive at Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland, said: “For the past two years we’ve been campaigning alongside people living with Long Covid to ensure that systems are in place to help them easily access the care and support they desperately need.

“This system has the potential to transform access to wraparound care through GP services. It has been developed with clinicians and people with Long Covid and we want it to be adopted right across the country as soon as possible.

“It not only makes this process easier for people living with Long Covid, but it helps to alleviate some of the pressure that primary care is under by allowing clinicians to easily refer their patients into a service they can trust.”

Greig Brown, 44, contracted Covid-19 in January 2021 and has been hospitalised twice because of the condition. Once a keen runner and cyclist, Greig now lives with the symptoms of Long Covid, suffering from severe breathing difficulties and memory loss.

He has not been able to return to his job as a joiner at St John’s Hospital in Livingston, and he fears he will never regain the health and fitness he once had.

Greig lives in Armadale, West Lothian, with his partner, Sam. Their plans to marry are up in the air as they have had to use their savings while Greig has been off long-term sick.

He says: “This is my reality. I am so breathless and exhausted every day that simply getting downstairs and settled on the couch wipes me out.

“I used to walk miles every day around the hospital, carrying tools and anything else I needed. Now I can’t even walk to the kitchen without needing to sit down.

“My GPs kept telling me Long Covid is all new to them, too, and they don’t know how to treat it.

“I feel as if people like me have fallen through the cracks. I hope having a system in place like this NHS Lothian pilot that lets doctors refer patients directly to the CHSS support service can make a real difference to everyone living with Long Covid symptoms.”

Sanjay Singh, Head of Funding Programmes with NHS Lothian Charity, said the pilot is a “great example of partners working together during the pandemic to achieve patient care that is personalised and, crucially, in response to Long Covid, as we learn more about this awful illness as time goes on.”

 “We were delighted to be involved in this innovative project and to be able to support through funding made available to support our communities dealing with the effects of Long Covid,” he said.

Jack Francis, chief executive and founder of Pogo Digital Healthcare, added: “Working in partnership with healthcare professionals, patients and technology experts to develop this innovative new healthcare pathway has resulted in a unique way for patients to manage their Long Covid symptoms.

“I am delighted with the pilot engagement so far from both the patient groups and Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland’s advice line team, and it has been great to be part of such an innovative new healthcare solution.”