NHS/Broomwell Cardiac Telemedicine Service
From Capsil Wiki
- Objectives - To facilitate people that experience potential heart problems (chest pains for example) to have a full 12 lead-ECG quickly i.e. not have to wait for weeks to 'get an appointment'. To cut down on the amount of people presenting at GP surgeries and clinics who suspect they may have a heart problem where in fact the situation is benign. To cut down the amount (and hence cost) of secondary referrals from GPs to specialists (where GPs are not specialised in reading ECGs they may refer on - "to be sure").
- Details - The technology developed by Broomwell Healthwatch, enables fast, accurate diagnosis of heart problems by telephone and allows patients with symptoms of chest pain, or possible heart problems, or for those undergoing routine monitoring, to receive a full 12-lead ECG test at their local GP surgery or clinic within minutes – instead of having to travel to ‘outpatients’ department (or some diagnostic centre) and wait up to two weeks for results. The ECG data is recorded on a simple 12-lead monitor and the data is uploaded to the Broomwell centre within minutes. Results are passed back to the GP/clinic within minutes via telephone and a full written report is sent on via email.
- Results - The results of a 12-month NHS trial of Broomwell’s telemedical ECG service showed that;
- Around 60% of patients with chest-pain symptoms would have been referred to hospital if the ECG service had not been available.
- Broomwell reports the savings to the NHS from using its telemedical ECG service on a national scale could be over £100M per year.
- Overall - Broomwell’s cardiac telemedicine service has now handled 50,000 calls from surgeries and community hospitals for people with chest-pain symptoms in England, saving an estimated 32,000 hospital referrals for patients since the service started in 2006.
