Bupa Cromwell Hospital and Visionable have partnered to introduce a video collaboration platform used to treat patients based in the UK and abroad during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Visionable’s platform, which is accessible using an app, connects doctors not only with their patients but also their peers, allowing them to safely and securely share patient records and hold international multi-disciplinary team meetings.
This means that doctors can come together remotely to share best practice for patients – something which was previously commonplace but has been made challenging by lockdown.
The system is also being used to support virtual consultations and remote rehabilitation, so patients can remain in the safety of their homes while still in medical care.
Philip Luce, Bupa Cromwell Hospital director, said: “We introduced Visionable for virtual patient appointments at the very beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic so they could continue with their consultant appointments and adhere to social distancing and travel guidelines. Many of our consultants are now using the platform, with more seeing the benefits and joining each day.
“Although lockdown measures are beginning to ease, we know that a service like this is still going to be incredibly important for patients to access healthcare professionals safely and securely from their homes. The service is of particular benefit to our numerous international patients, enabling them to access London-based clinicians.”
Visionable has developed a collaboration platform specifically for healthcare. It enables an unlimited number of users to work together, by sharing screens, audio and video streams. The company was part of a project which saw seven NHS Trusts using technology to help connect hospital patients with their loved ones during the coronavirus outbreak.
Alan Lowe, chief executive of Visionable, added: “Bupa Cromwell Hospital’s decision to use Visionable demonstrates the potential of new technology to transform care pathways in ways that make them more efficient for healthcare providers and safer for their users.
“Since the hospital signed with Visionable, the number of meetings minutes delivered over the platform has grown from 3,600 in March to 39,000 in June. That shows the enthusiasm with which clinical staff will adopt systems that deliver for them and the patients they serve.
“We expect to see significant continued uptake of video conferencing technology as healthcare learns from its ‘pivot to digital’ during the coronavirus pandemic and seeks to embed its benefits in the services of the future.”