New at-home heart monitors to slash NHS hospital waiting lists

THE NHS started to deploy a new home heart rate designed to detect heart rate problems.

Unlike traditional monitors who may require a long configuration by a qualified physiologist, the innovative kit can be displayed on patients so that they fix themselves at home and used to study the conditions, especially atrial fibrillationtachycardia or heart blocks.

The device itself is a small patch that adheres to the skin, while traditional devices see patients connected to many wires and monitors during hospital visits.

Once the new tool has been worn for a few days, patients simply display the monitor, deleting the need for appointments to adapt and remove the equipment.

The data collected is then analyzed by a artificial intelligence (IA) Tool called cardiologists, which generates an evaluation report by a physiologist or a doctor.

FRIMLEY Health NHS Foundation Trust is the country’s first hospital to deploy the aircraft, in the hope that the device will soon be used in other NHS trusts.

The Trust has said that it would always use traditional devices, known as Holter monitors, on some patients who are in the hospital, but many of those outside the hospital will be able to access the new era, which is made by Philips, to be used in the comfort of their own houses.

It is estimated that the use of fixes will double productivity levels to diagnose the problems of heart rate.

Dr. Iain Sim, Consultant Cardiac Electrophysiologist, said that the goal of the device is “to record the heart rate – to collect electrical signals from the heart – and to try to understand the patient a little and what they live and if it can be explained by their heart rate”.

“This smaller device allows us to measure at the time of up to 10 days.

“The advantages are that it is smaller and more practical, rather than having different threads everywhere.

“We are able to put them faster, and we are able to reduce our recovery deadlines for reports and recover the results to patients faster.”

He said that traditional holter monitors are attached by trained physiologists, but there is a shortage of these staff members at present.

“Because it is simpler, we have specialized nurses who can be quite easily trained to apply them,” he added.

Suzanne Jordan, associate director of medicine at Frimley Health, said that patches can even be sent to patients to fix themselves.

Monitors’ comments are transformed into reports for doctors, who are classified in a traffic light system, she said.

“Green is perfectly good – within normal limits; Amber may need a clinician to examine the report; Red means breaks or potentially important arrhythmia that require an urgent exam, “she said.

“It was really positive – staff and patients really like it. We can publish the patients for patients – there are explicit instructions there in terms of putting it, what to do if there is a problem, and also to return it too.

“Once it comes back, it is downloaded and the recovery times are great.”

Ms. Jordan added: “If you think of the situation as a whole, it means that we will be able to manage our patients quickly.

“We directed clinics by perhaps seeing 30 patients in one day, while before, we probably saw maximum 14 – so we have somehow doubled our productivity.”

Asked about the conditions that will be monitored with the devices, Dr. SIM added: “Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a really important and common condition that we take up with these devices, and we are examining more and more if we can use them to help detect the FA which is not symptomatic, and if people are an increased risk of STVE that we do not know.

“The other conditions would relate to other forms of types of tachycardia, therefore so fast heart frequencies, or very slow heart rate episodes, such as heart blocks of different degrees, where patients can have palpitations, or they can have fainting or syncope.

“So this allows us to monitor all these heart rhythms.”

On the use of AI to examine the data of the monitors, he added: “I think it is natural that everyone is worried every time you put the term ‘` ia’ ‘in something, but they are fairly well tested algorithms that still have human surveillance. “

Mark Leftwich, Managing Director of Philips UK and Ireland, said that studies show that Philips Epatch “can identify up to 2.5 times more problems with clinically relevant heart rate than traditional holter monitors – so not only is it more comfortable to wear, but it can actually help take problems that could have been missed.”