Service Overview
The Telehealth and Hospital In-reach Team consists of Telehealth Care Support Workers, Telehealth advanced Practitioner, Telehealth Nurse and Clinical Lead who work with patients diagnosed with a long term medical condition(s) to help them to monitor, manage and control their own health.
Long term conditions include high blood pressure, diabetes, breathing problems (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD) and heart problems that need to be managed carefully to avoid periods of illness and unnecessary hospital visits and admissions.
Telehealth simply means providing health care at a distance rather than face to face. In Newham, we are leading the way in using telehealth technology to support people to help manage their condition, maintain their health and well-being and live independently.
Why we use Telehealth
Our Telehealth services aim to do three things:
- Support people in understanding their long term condition and acquiring the skills and habits of self-management needed to achieve the best outcomes in terms of their health.
- Reduce avoidable hospital admissions and inappropriate A&E visits through improving the information available to patients, carers and clinical staff.
- Minimise the waste of time and resource consumed by face to face interaction where the patient would prefer support to be provided remotely and where this support can be done effectively.
Please remember that our Telehealth services are not emergency services rather they aim to help you understand how best to manage your condition and that includes knowing the best way of handling an emergency.
Our approach to Telehealth
We have a step-up/step down approach to providing Telehealth that aims to give you the support you need it when you need it.
All our Telehealth solutions are supported by clinicians. This means that a nurse will discuss your condition with you, give you more information about the services available and help you decide the best Telehealth option for you. They will also be able to offer advice and support remotely as needed.
Florence
Florence is a simple telehealth text messaging service that helps you take a more active role in your health care and gives you the freedom to get on with your life. Florence can give personalised health tips, provide valuable advice to help you stay on track and send medication reminders - so you’ll never need to miss another pill again.
It’s quick to set up, and takes less than a minute. It’s easy to use and it’s right there on your own mobile phone.
How does it work?
Once you have registered you can start to use Flo right away on your mobile phone. You just simply key in your information and Flo does the rest. You may be loaned or given equipment so that you can take your own readings. Flo sends these to a nurse who can monitor your health, leaving you to get on with your life. This means you won’t need to visit your doctor or nurse so often, and if you become unwell, this can be picked up before things become more serious.
In ELFT we are using it to help patients monitor:
- heart failure
- hypertension
- chronic lung disease
- diabetes
Some local GP practices are also using Flo to help their patients.
Does it cost me anything?
On most phone networks in the UK Flo is free as the NHS meets the cost. Before signing you up to Flo we will test to make sure that you can access the free service on your phone.