OxFed & Oxehealth deploy non-contact cardio-respiratory measurement for suspected COVID-19 cases
As part of the Oxfordshire health system response to COVID-19, OxFed, the federation of GP practices in Oxford city, have partnered with Oxehealth. OxFed have set up a dedicated clinic in Manzil Way to safely assess people referred by their GP with COVID-19 symptoms.
The hub has 5 dedicated clinic rooms for COVID-19 screening, all of which have been equipped with Oxehealth’s Digital Care Assistant. The system uses an optical sensor on the wall to enable GPs to obtain pulse rate and breathing rate measurements from outside the room. No equipment is attached to a patient.
When patients arrive at the clinic they enter a room for initial assessment without the need for any direct physical contact with clinicians or reception staff. Trained GPs review the patients via the system and then decide whether to undertake a physical examination.
The Oxehealth Digital Care Assistant allows the doctor to see important clinical signs without the traditional hands-on approach. This minimises direct contact with the patient and could provide another way of reducing the risk of infection between doctors and patients, alongside the use of personal protective equipment such as masks, gowns and eye protection.
The deployment was scoped, installed and live within 4 working days. The installation is the first of its kind in primary care, with the Oxfordshire health and care system partners looking to potentially expand into other dedicated clinics over the coming weeks as the demand increases.
Helen Shute, OxFed’s CEO, says “The COVID-19 outbreak is an unprecedented challenge and it is vital we provide patients with the best possible care during coronavirus while doing all we can to protect our clinicians working on the front line. We are excited by the potential of the technology to help us achieve both.”
Hugh Lloyd-Jukes, Oxehealth’s CEO, commented “I am proud that Oxehealth has been able to help OxFed create these pioneering “clinics” and we hope our system will help clinicians stay safe whilst caring for patients. At a time of incredible pressure on the NHS, we have been delighted to deploy the Digital Care Assistant into this novel application in just 4 days.”
“We appreciate the enormous challenge COVID-19 presents to health service staff. We are proud the Oxehealth Service is playing a part in helping clinicians meet this challenge nationally."
ENDS
About OxFed
Established in 2014, and wholly owned by Oxford’s NHS GP practices, OxFed is a new kind of not-for-profit healthcare organisation providing NHS services. Our members care for the city’s 235,000 strong population, providing healthcare in people’s homes and in local general practices across the city.
OxFed also helps its member practices become stronger and more efficient, so they can care for people even better. We speak out for our patients and practices across the city.
OxFed is working with other NHS partners to provide a series of clinics and home visiting services across Oxfordshire, in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. These clinics are not walk-in facilities but are accessed through a referral made by the patient’s GP or out-of-hours GP services.
About Oxehealth
Oxehealth was founded by the President of Parks College, Professor Lionel Tarassenko in 2012, previously Head of Engineering at Oxford University until 2019. Since then, it has become a UK tech success story, with financial backing from IP Group Plc and Ora Capital, two major investment trusts committed to supporting UK science for the long-term.
Oxehealth exists to help clinicians engineer ever better care for their patients.
Oxehealth’s Digital Care Assistant acts as an assistant for staff when they cannot be present in a room, or do not want to disturb an individual. The system alerts clinicians, carers and custodians to high-risk activity, enables them to take spot vital sign measurements and to review activity reports.
Oxehealth is already working with frontline clinicians at 30% of England’s Mental Health trusts, in acute hospitals, care homes and custodial healthcare.
For Oxehealth enquiries contact:
Charlotte Wood: charlotte@oxehealth.com
