Patients with long-time heart conditions can monitor themselves at home and reduce their chances of having a stroke with a new technology service available on the NHS.
The service is for people at risk of stroke who are prescribed the drug warfarin to prevent blood clotting. They have to attend medical clinics on a regular basis for blood tests to determine their correct dosage.
Now, patients can test themselves at home and send in their results via a bluetooth mobile app, secure web portal or automated telephone call to receive their dosage information. Research has shown that this type of self-testing can improve the quality of therapy, reduce blood clotting and cut mortality rates.
Inhealthcare is supplying the tried-and-tested technology for the service, which is being delivered by staff from The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs North Manchester General Hospital. It is available for up to 200 patients with atrial fibrillation in North Manchester.
Betty Brough, lead anticoagulant nurse specialist at Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “The new system gives patients the freedom from attending a clinic appointment every four weeks on average and the ability to test their INR at their convenience. It is proving very popular and within the next six months we hope to have enrolled 200 patients onto the scheme. The overall outcomes will hopefully give more flexibility to the patient and show that they have more time in their ideal therapeutic range to ensure their warfarin therapy is effective and will reduce their chance of having a stroke.”
