Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale chosen as test bed site by NHS England

Dr Chris Duffy, NHS HMR CCG Chairman and local GP

Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale has been chosen by NHS England as a ‘test bed’ site for a new early intervention programme to evaluate the impact of new technologies to offer both better care and better value for taxpayers in a modernised NHS.

NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale Clinical Commissioning Group (HMR CCG) will work with Verily (formerly Google Life Sciences), MSD (a trade name of Merck & Co., Inc., with headquarters in Kenilworth, NJ, USA), Health E Research and the Greater Manchester Academic Health Science Network to help healthcare professionals better identify and support patients at risk of long term conditions using the most advanced new predictive techniques.

The HMR CCG 'Long Term Conditions Early Intervention Programme', a two year pilot scheme in the borough, will involve analysing trends and patterns related to conditions like heart failure and some lung diseases such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease to identify patients who would most benefit from tele-health, tele-care and tele-medicine technology.

Patients who are identified as most at risk of critical health events will be supported to use telecare and remote devices in their homes so that their doctors can offer a treatment plan which could consist of monitoring signs and symptoms, offering lifestyle advice or medication to prevent the condition developing.

HMR CCG Chairman, Dr Chris Duffy said; “This project will empower GPs like me to more easily identify patients that would benefit from certain treatments to prevent, avoid and minimise ill health.

"I’m excited to play a part in introducing this ground breaking opportunity to patients in Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale which uses state of the art technology to alleviate age old health problems. I am confident the benefits of this scheme will be reaped for generations to come."

HMR CCG Chief Officer, Simon Wootton said; “The HMR Long Term Conditions Early Intervention Programme will analyse a combination of traditional healthcare data, such as electronic medical records, with non-traditional data , such as environmental factors like the weather, socio-economic factors and data to predict which patients are at risk of long term conditions like heart failure and lung disease. This information will then enable GPs and other healthcare professionals to be more targeted in referring patients to appropriate interventions.

“This Programme will allow the NHS the opportunity to harness the skills and technology of partners who we would not normally be able to work with."

All activities are to be conducted in accordance with all applicable laws, such as the UK Data Protection Act. Patients are being assured that solutions will be safeguarded, secure and compatible with future innovation, however, it will be possible for patients to opt out of the programme.

Mr Wootton added: "I can assure people in Heywood Middleton and Rochdale that a key requirement of this project was that it satisfied all necessary governance standards. However, should patients prefer it there will be an opportunity to opt out of the programme and we will be confirming how to do this in coming months.”