Greater Manchester and Cheshire Cardiac Network Reports Growing Success of Pioneering Telemedicine E

Cardiac monitoring service from Broomwell boosts clinical outcomes and patient care, and reduces burden on secondary care and emergency services

[UKPRwire, Thu Jul 12 2007] Greater Manchester and Cheshire (GMC) Cardiac Network has reported on the success of an advanced telemedicine ECG service in providing early, rapid diagnosis for patients with cardiac conditions, enabling GPs to provide effective care and reducing the burden on the region’s acute and emergency care providers.

The pioneering cardiac monitoring and response service delivered by Broomwell HealthWatch is in place in four Primary Care Trusts across the area – North and Central districts of Manchester PCT, Stockport and Bury PCTs – and since its launch in September 2006 has already been used with over 1,300 patients.

The cardiac monitoring service provides non-cardiology GPs with expert diagnostic support, to make more informed decisions on treatment. Practice nurses carry out ECG readings and transmit the results over the phone, with expert interpretation emailed back within minutes.

A key benefit of the service to patients is that it is carried out locally by their GP, removing the need to travel elsewhere for diagnosis. The process of a patient having an ECG at an acute hospital and then getting the results back used to take around two weeks, but now GPs have the results in minutes, meaning they can detect any problems at an earlier stage, and provide timely and preventative care.

Karen Greenwood, service improvement manager at the GMC Cardiac Network said: “The service has delivered clear cost savings and freed up acute and emergency healthcare resources. Carrying out 1,300 ECGs within the primary care setting has helped ease the burden on local acute hospitals.

“By providing cardiac monitoring, diagnosis and care at GP level, we’ve succeeded in dramatically reducing the number of out patient secondary care referrals. Patients get early diagnosis and care ensuring NHS resources are used most effectively.”

Patients in the area can also use arrhythmia recognition watches as part of the service. This enables patients with suspected irregular heart palpitations to record and transmit a record of them when they occur. The interpretation service provides GPs with a clinical aid to diagnose whether the heart palpitations are indeed arrhythmia or not allowing appropriate care to be delivered.

Following the success of the initial one year pilot, it is now being rolled out to a further four PCTs within the GMC network – Heywood, Middleton & Rochdale, Oldham, Eastern & Central Cheshire and Salford, extending the benefits to a wider patient base.

The service was launched following a successful bid by the GMC Cardiac Network for funding to support wireless telemedicine and diagnostics within primary care. The PCTs opted for the Broomwell monitoring and response service, as it offers dedicated interpretation to provide diagnostic advice on ECG results round the clock.

In a separate 6-month pilot of telemedicine ECG tests by NHS North West, using Broomwell’s handheld ECG device and monitoring service, data showed 82% of patients did not need to go to hospital (neither A&E nor Outpatients) after the test. The report from NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Cardiac Network on the pilot showed savings of £46M per year, Broomwell believes savings of up to £250M a year are possible. *

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*The full report is available from the website of the NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Cardiac Network, visit http://www.lsccardiacnetwork.nhs.uk

How the BroomWell Healthwatch telemedicine ECG service works:
Broomwell Healthwatch gives GPs and other healthcare professionals access to immediate, expert interpretation of ECGs by experienced cardiology-trained clinicians. Broomwell’s hand-held 12-lead ECG machine is used by a nurse, clinician or paramedic in the same way as a conventional machine. When the ECG is complete, it is transmitted as a sound signal by landline telephone in just 45 seconds to Broomwell’s monitoring centre, where it is displayed on screen for interpretation by experienced clinicians.

Based on the high-quality ECG trace, Broomwell staff give an immediate verbal interpretation by phone so that action can be taken quickly, if needed. A full written ECG report is also sent to the GP surgery by email or fax for inclusion in the patient record. Because constant communication with the patient’s doctor, nurse or paramedic is maintained during the test, the quality of patient care is high.

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