Western Isles patients with diabetes and heart conditions are cutting down on the time they spend at the GP or hospital by texting their blood glucose, blood pressure or weight results to medics.
People with conditions that need regular monitoring are sent regular reminder texts.
They then test themselves and send in the results.
The text messages are generated by a computer programme but look like messages from a real person.
All the results are collated on a web interface which can be viewed by clinicians, in real time, provided they have internet access.
Crucially, if the readings fall outwith certain parameters, such as those agreed in their patient management plan, an alert is sent to the patient’s clinician to allow for early intervention to hopefully reduce the need for a visit to the GP or hospital.
A text will also be sent back to the patient advising them that, for example, their blood glucose is a bit high and what to do next.
NHS Western launched the system, named after Florence Nightingale, for diabetes and cardiac patients in October – making the health board one of the earliest adopters of the system in Scotland.
One young patient in particular – Erin Graham, 16, from Stornoway – has transformed her diabetes management with the help of Flo.
Erin, who was diagnosed with diabetes when she was 12, was admitted to hospital last September because her blood glucose was so high putting her at a very high risk of complications.
Three months after starting to use the Flo system on her mobile phone, Erin has managed to reduce her blood glucose to 75mmol – reducing her risk of complications by a massive 80 %.
Erin’s story has been so remarkable, in fact, that the Western Isles Flo project is now being cited around the world, by the inventor of the system, as a great example of what is possible in telehealth. It has been discussed at conferences in Queensland, Australia, and Maine and Washington DC in the US, as well as Qatar.
Iain Trayner, Diabetes Service Co-
“We have worked hard to get where we are with Flo in the Western isles. We have witnessed some excellent results so far and we are looking forward to helping more people improve their self management and confidence when living with a long term condition.”
Other hi-
The system is tailored to each patient and enables much more detailed and regular monitoring than routine appointments do.
Monitoring health conditions by text
9 February 2016