North West London ICS launches tech-enabled programme

North West London Integrated Care System (ICS) has teamed up with Inhealthcare to deliver a new tech-enabled programme to tackle the disparity in physical health outcomes for patients living with severe mental illness.

The programme will extend annual physical health check pathways in order to reach more patients with conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, to help reduce health inequalities.

It will also introduce remote monitoring technology to support the pathways, as well as improve data sharing between the primary and secondary care system.

Faith Lubimbi, tech-enabled Care@Home lead for North West London ICS, said: “Our ambitious programme aims to bridge the mortality gap and improve outcomes for the most vulnerable service users with severe mental illness.

“Inhealthcare is helping the NHS to integrate care between mental health and primary care providers to improve patient and staff experience, increase efficiency and lower the cost of care.”

Through the North West London ICS and Inhealthcare partnership, patients will be able to access physical health checks in convenient locations such as church halls, community centres and even their own homes.

By increasing the availability of these checks, the ICS can help to boost life expectancy for vulnerable patients, who, on average, die 15-20 years earlier than the general population.

Healthcare professionals will use devices such as mobile ECG machines and then enter their observations directly into Inhealthcare’s app, helping to improve patient record safety.

The data will be shared automatically with GP software systems. Plus, authorised NHS staff will be able to view the data, enabling them to review existing conditions, and commence treatment plans if new conditions are identified.

Bryn Sage, chief executive of Inhealthcare, said: “We are proud to be working with the North West London Integrated Care System on this important initiative to reduce shocking health inequalities and bring hope to people living with severe mental illness.”

Earlier this year North West London ICS aimed to redistribute capacity across the ICS by deploying a patient portal from DrDoctor, which will also help tackle waiting list backlogs and boost patient engagement.