Visually impaired clinicians needed to develop solution

Out-of-hours IT provider Adastra is looking for visually impaired doctors and nurses who would be interested in helping to develop an IT solution to enable visually impaired clinicians to return to practice.

A pilot project looking at the creation of an interface between Adastra’s urgent care case management systems and an aural utility called JAWS came to end last month following the death of GP Dr Nick Unsworth, who had been helping to develop the system.

Dr Unsworth had to withdraw from general practice when his eyesight failed during 2005 but approached Adastra to see if it could help develop a system that would still enable him to manage patients requiring assessment over the telephone without necessarily being able to see the computer screen.

Dr Unsworth had been working on the project at the Royal National Institute for the Blind’s Redhill Vocational College in Surrey and the RNIB has now teamed up with Adastra to find more visually impaired doctors and nurses interested in joining the project.

Adastra chief executive Lynn Woods said he believed there was great potential for liberating clinicians whose careers have been cut short by loss of vision.

He added: “There is heavy emphasis in modern urgent care strategy on the definitive telephone assessment of patients seeking urgent intervention. This presents a great opportunity for visually-impaired clinicians to contribute.”

Dr Unsworth’s widow Carole said she hoped the work would be a fitting tribute to her husband’s inventiveness and determination. She added: “There must be others like Nick whose careers have been interrupted in this way – I do hope the work he began can be successfully concluded.”

For further information on Dr Unsworth’s work with the RNIB or to express an interest in participating in any subsequent programme contact Andrew Farrell at the RNIB on 01737 768935, afarrell@rnib-redhill.ac.uk  To find out more about the clinical aspects of software capability and the aural interface contact Adastra’s medical director Dr Alex Yeates alex.yeates@adastra.com