GDm-Health remote monitoring system helps ensure the highest standards of care for pregnant women in the times of the covid-19 pandemic
As the NHS rises to tackle the unprecedented challenge posed by covid-19, the wider healthcare community has a duty to do everything possible to relieve pressure on the front line.
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That’s why British clinical AI technology company Sensyne Health is offering all NHS trusts use of GDm-Health™, a proven digital solution to help expectant mothers and their healthcare team manage diabetes in pregnancy, at no cost for the next 12 months.
Any NHS trust can take advantage of the GDm-Health remote monitoring system, to help ensure the highest standards of care for pregnant women who will now be observing social distancing as a result of the covid-19 pandemic.
GDm-Health was invented in the NHS for the NHS as a direct response to clinical need and to help the increasing number of women diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus. It comprises a smartphone application connected to a wireless blood glucose monitor, to help pregnant women with diabetes digitally record and track their blood glucose readings and input additional comments. This information is immediately available for the hospital team to review via a desktop app, reducing the need for women to visit hospital and helping to keep this high-risk group at home.
Midwives and clinicians can securely review blood glucose results and metadata in near real-time, enabling early intervention and patient support. Patients can also communicate with their clinicians directly through the app.
GDm-Health is listed on the NHS Digital App Library and earlier this year won the prestigious HSJ Partnership Award for Medtech Innovation of the Year. Since launch in August 2018 it has been adopted by 25 NHS trusts.
GDm-Health has already demonstrated a positive impact for mothers-to-be. Crucially, that means improved patient outcomes — as well as potential cost savings to trusts as a result. An independent National Institute for Health and Care Excellence evaluation estimated that using GDm-Health could save trusts £230 per patient per pregnancy.
A service evaluation conducted at Royal Berkshire Foundation Trust prior to launch demonstrated that the product delivered significant benefits compared to standard care, including a 26 per cent reduction in the number of clinic visits by patients and 50 per cent less time spent on clerical and administrative tasks by midwives – freeing up clinical time to focus on patient care.
GDm-Health began as a collaboration between Oxford University Hospitals FT and the University of Oxford’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering, and led by Dr Lucy Mackillop, a consultant obstetric physician at Oxford University Hospitals FT, honorary senior clinical lecturer at Nuffield Department of Women’s and Reproductive Health at the University of Oxford, and now chief medical officer at Sensyne Health. In February 2017, GDm-Health was licensed to Sensyne Health to redevelop the software so it could be scaled, commercialised and adopted by more trusts and patients. GDm-Health is regulated, CE marked and validated and can be rapidly deployed.
Sensyne also offers trusts a dedicated Implementation and support team to help familiarisation with the product and train staff. Training consists of e-learning modules, and covers train-the-trainer, end-user training, and IT technical/troubleshooting work — which can all be delivered remotely under the current circumstances.
For further information about the GDm-Health app please visit www.sensynehealth.com/gdm-health or contact Sarah.behmardi@sensynehealth.com or call 07487 536 944
