Healthtech company DrDoctor has announced its complete COVID-19 toolkit is now available, free of license fees to any hospital that requires it. The toolkit comprises of the broadcast messaging and video consultation services and the digital symptom assessment tracker.
Following the outbreak of Coronavirus in the UK, the NHS has come under pressure to transform the established methods of patient care. Recent government measures to cancel all non-essential appointments presented a need for remote consultation capabilities in hospitals and an effective means of communicating any service changes to patients. DrDoctor’s broadcast messaging and video consultation tools were designed to carry out this process in a quick and simple manner. Originally pencilled in for release at the end of this year, DrDoctor expedited the development and launch of its video software.
DrDoctor’s Symptom Tracker can send digital assessments to patients to screen for Coronavirus symptoms before hospital appointments or on an ad-hoc basis. It will issue assessments for whole clinics and provide screening of symptoms using validated clinical forms. The rapid spread of Coronavirus means everyone must now be considered a potential patient. DrDoctor’s assessments can be also used to identify patients who are potentially ‘shielded’ or ‘vulnerable’ to offer remote consultations.
Tom Whicher, a founder of DrDoctor, said: “The response to COVID-19 by the NHS has been astonishing. We’re excited to deliver services, such as our new video consultation tool, which are tightly integrated with existing systems and the way doctors like to work. They have the unique advantage of being very simple to deploy, without requiring new process or booking mechanisms. We view video as a key part of caring for people in their own homes, thereby keeping them out of hospitals and assisting the NHS on its long road to recovery. Beyond the current crisis is a secondary looming threat - the backlog of routine patients who've had their care delayed or cancelled. Up to 50% of non-essential care has been cancelled, leaving millions of people waiting for treatment.
“It’s important to explore the solutions hospitals will need to deal with this pent-up demand as we look to the next 6-12 months. Beyond that, it's likely that healthcare will never look quite the same, so we've developing tools to help patients and doctors with the new normal, and tools to care for and treat patients in a new way.”
