Outstanding examples of public sector technology projects in Scotland have been recognised in the 2019 Holyrood Connect ICT Awards.
The Connect Digital Health & Care Award, sponsored by InterSystems, was awarded to Edinburgh Napier University, for the development of criticalcarerecovery.com into an e-health resource that supports recovery among intensive care patients across Scotland and the United Kingdom.
More than 160,000 people are admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) in the United Kingdom each year, and the e-health innovation was specifically designed to help support patients with long-term physical and psychological issues after discharge home. The website has been viewed by more than 20,000 people since going live in 2016.
Dr Pam Ramsay, who also won the InterSystems sponsored Digital Impact Award, in February 2019, said: “This is the second award that criticalcarerecovery.com has won in recent months and we are just as thrilled. Improving health and social care support for our patients and their families is at the heart of what we are trying to achieve, so this award is particularly welcome in helping to spread awareness of an important resource that can make a difference to people’s lives.
“We know that 25% of patients end up back in hospital within three months of getting home after an ICU stay. Shockingly, that figure rises to 40% within six months, so there’s a real need to support these patients during their recovery and avoid unnecessary readmissions to hospital. Digital interventions have been shown to reduce readmission rates and healthcare costs in other patient groups, and we’d hope to demonstrate similar benefits with our website.”
Future plans for criticalcarerecovery.com include integrating a secure NHS approved online video consultation platform (Attend Anywhere) into the website, for use during nurse-led follow-up clinics. A number of other developments are considered, with the aim of developing a one stop online shop for ICU survivors and their families across the UK.
Shortlisted entrants for the Connect Digital Health & Care Award included NHS Lanarkshire for its project to enhance post diagnostic dementia support through the use of technology. And NHS National Services Scotland was recognised as a finalist for its digital blood pressure monitoring service.
Charles King, InterSystems lead in Scotland, said: “All winners and finalists deserve a huge congratulations for their work. As someone who works with NHS boards across Scotland every day, I am fortunate to see the positive impact on care when dedicated health and care professionals are able to make the most of technology. Celebrating innovation in this space is enormously important to scaling the success of these amazing projects and making them more widely available. We are very pleased to support Holyrood with this award.”
Source: Digital Health Age