Health care tech helps South Warwickshire aid older patients – and land an award

A SERVICE which takes just seconds to make sure older patients are seen by the right people in the right location has won an award.

The frailty service, run by South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust (SWFT) has been awarded the ‘Health Tech Case Study of the Year’ in the Health Tech News Now Awards.

The service joined forces with Consultant Connect to use technology to get frail adults the support they need and avoid unnecessary hospital admissions. The technology allows paramedics, GPs and clinical practitioners to talk to a consultant within an average time of 25 seconds and discuss the most appropriate steps for a patient’s care. If a hospital admission is not appropriate, a patient will be seen in their home and managed on a virtual ward’.

To date, according to SWFT, 66 per cent of calls from GPs to the frailty service resulted in a hospital attendance being avoided while 78 per cent of calls from West Midlands Ambulance Service avoided a trip to the emergency department.

SWFT consultant Eliza Griffiths said: “We are extremely pleased to receive this award and for our dedication to ensure patients are cared for in the right place first time to be recognised in this way.

“The experience of coming into hospital, especially for elderly or frail patients, can be extremely draining. Even individuals in good general health may exhibit signs of deconditioning during a hospital stay. Therefore, our frailty service aims, where medically appropriate, to prevent this strain by seeing patients in their own home.”