Mobile health and apps news in brief

This month’s round-up from the world of healthcare apps and platforms includes a new ‘brisk walking’ app developed by Public Health England to encourage a healthier lifestyle, a video support platform created by Leeds Children’s Hospital to improve the care of children and families living with Type 1 Diabetes and a UK innovator helping doctors build their own digital health and social care services.

New ‘brisk walking’ app developed to encourage a healthier England

Public Health England (PHE) has launched an app called Active 10, designed to encourage at least 10 minutes of brisk walking a day.

It is part of their ongoing One You campaign to encourage a healthy lifestyle. According to a report published by the PHE, 4 out of 10 (41%) adults aged 40 to 60 in England walk less than 10 minutes continuously each month at a brisk pace. The findings also reveal how lifestyles have changed over time, showing that people in the UK are 20% less active now than they were in the 1960s and on average walk 15 miles less a year than two decades ago.

PHE’s new One You physical activity campaign is encouraging adults to build 10 minutes continuous brisk walking into their day as a simple way to improve their health. This is particularly aimed at those who have an inactive or low activity lifestyle and may find incorporating activity into their day challenging.

The Active 10 app has been developed to show how much brisk walking a person is doing each day and how to incorporate more of it into their lifestyles.

A Leeds hospital launches video support platform to improve care of children living with Type 1 Diabetes

Leeds Children’s Hospital has partnered with DigiBete.org, a social enterprise, to launch a video support platform to improve the care of children and families living with Type 1 Diabetes. The platform, which will launch on Tuesday, 14 November on World Diabetes Day, will be positioned in the foyer of Clarendon Wing at Leeds General Infirmary.

An event on this day will take place at 11am at the hospital and kick-off the 90-day countdown to the launch of the DigiBete.org, while highlighting the symptoms of Type 1 Diabetes. DigiBete, which was founded by Maddie and Rob Julian, parents of a young child diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, will transform the care for vulnerable children living with the complex and often misunderstood Type 1 Diabetes.

Diabetes is an invisible life threatening autoimmune condition that affects nearly 30,000 children and young people in the UK. Maddie and Rob formed the social enterprise after having found a pressing need for more clinically approved digital resources to help people to educate their extended family, friends and nursery about how to care safely for their young children.

Watch the DigiBete story online or follow DigiBete on Twitter @DigiBete or on Facebook.

Inhealthcare helps doctors and nurses build own digital health services

Inhealthcare is helping doctors and nurses to build their own digital health and social care services.

The UK innovator has created a programming language for clinicians to design new ways of helping patients to look after themselves. Inhealthcare has invented a toolkit to provide a (simple) set of building blocks for the rapid development of services for the NHS. The programming language allows apps to be designed in hours rather than months and at a fraction of the cost, it said in a statement provided by Inhealthcare.

“Clinicians in the North East have become the first in the UK to embrace the new programming technology. They used the toolkit to target people at higher risk of illness and death from flu in County Durham.”

Doctors and nurses worked with Inhealthcare to support the annual flu vaccination programme at a general practice in Darlington. Their new app contacted people at home, booked them into a flu clinic and then confirmed if they had been vaccinated. According to Inhealthcare the technology helped to increase the number of attendances. 

Inhealthcare is developing multiple digital care services for the NHS. Its technology supports care in many areas including stroke prevention, mental health, chronic pain, long-term conditions, cancer, diabetes, wound management, nutrition and care homes.

GP records in your hands

If you missed the recent Evergreen Life news, the health and medical app has gone live with three major GP suppliers.

Their latest updates allows users to download their GP Record directly into the Evergreen Life App. They’re fully approved by the NHS. The app also provides users with even more control allowing for the ability to book GP appointments, order repeat prescriptions, view test results and share information with trusted carers, health professionals or family.

To start, go to your GP and ask for access to your health record and they will then give you a Linkage Code and Account ID. Enter these details into the app when prompted and follow the on-screen process to gain access to your record.

For more information click here.

Multi-million pound deal for a ‘doctor in your pocket’ app

An artificial intelligence driven app which aims to provide a ‘doctor in your pocket’ has announced it has received a whopping £35 million funding from a number of private investors.

Ada Health aims to offer new levels of personalised care and treatment by combining artificial intelligence (AI) with the medical insights of doctors.

The app works by asking relevant, personalised questions based on the information provided and suggesting possible causes for symptoms and helps users to make informed decisions about their health.

While no fixed targets have been set with the funding, Daniel Nathrath, CEO and co-founder of Ada Health said the goal was to give as many people as possible access to Ada Health.

NHS England recently announced it has launched a £45 million fund to help GP surgeries implement online consultation programmes.

The money will be used to implement an online consultation programme for three years across a number of GP practices.