Friday 7th February 2020

Last week we were delighted to host a roundtable discussion with clinicians and industry leaders at Health Innovation Manchester, Citylabs. Health Innovation Manchester strive to deliver innovation into frontline care and are committed to transforming the health and wellbeing of Greater Manchester’s citizens.

Clinical Director, Dr Tracey Vell MBE chaired the session, which looked at key issues around innovative technology and how it can be utilised to improve patient pathways. In our discussions we looked at how technology can be used to improve data sharing across the patient pathway. With poor information sharing often leading to longer treatment times, improved data sharing will be key to more efficient treatment pathways.

One innovative opportunity discussed to improve services, waiting lists and treatment times was teleconference appointments. These appointments would allow patients to connect with clinicians remotely, allowing clinicians to predetermine which tests the patient needs to undertake before they present at hospital. It was estimated that, in the best case scenario, streamlining in this way could reduce treatment times from 55 weeks to just 21 weeks.

We also discussed the development of mobile based technology, linked to a stethoscope, which can detect a murmur with 93% accuracy. The device, developed by scientists from the University of Cambridge, uses artificial intelligence and machine learning - which could be utilised as a screening device to help with patient referrals.

During our discussions we heard about a potential innovation where patients could use apps to document their care history. This could empower the patient with a record of care which can then be shared with clinicians to ensure continuity of care and improve treatment times.

We recognise that innovation across the pathway means we will off course diagnose the disease more, according to OxValve some 1.5 million over 65s are currently affected with valvular disease.Therefore, we must also seek to find ways to ensure the existing system can manage an increase in the diagnosed patient population.

Heart Valve Voice were enthused by our discussions at Citylabs as these innovative technologies are core to the future of heart valve disease care. We’re delighted to hear from Health Innovation Manchester that they are committed to working in partnership with us to ensure that we support cutting edge technologies which improve the lives of our patients, and the cardiovascular landscape.