Patients spared journeys to hospital with app
BBCPatients with rheumatoid arthritis are being spared long and unnecessary journeys to hospital through a new app.
Developed in Bristol, patients can now access virtual appointments with specialists at Southmead Hospital.
More than 1,500 patients have used the program including Penny Parry, 68, from Dursley, who has used it to monitor her condition for the past three years.
"From here to Southmead it's a journey. If it can be done over the phone it's easier for the clinicians and it's easier for me and particularly at times when I have got a bad joint pain travel is uncomfortable," she said.
Specialists can now use the app to check up on patients every six months, even if they are feeling well, because they are often taking drugs that can cost up to £20,000 each year.
Parry said the app asks about joint pain and about how she is coping mentally.
It then gives a score and produces a graph that can be analysed by specialists in order to change medication dosage.
Parry said she has only needed to go to Southmead hospital once to see a clinician since using the app.
Dr Phil Hammon, a rheumatologist at Southmead Hospital who developed the app, said face-to-face consultations at the hospital have halved since it was introduced in 2018.
"That's had a real impact in terms of convenience for patients so they don't need to come into hospital, find parking, wait for appointments," he explained.
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