New mobile phone app helps patients check on their own recovery

Staff at Kettering General Hospital have created a mobile phone App to help patients on the road to recovery following operations.

Post Op has been created by doctors and nurses working together with patients and external technology experts.

The App enables patients to answer key questions about their recovery through mobile phone questionnaires as well as posting pictures and video of their wounds for doctors and nurses to study.

It provides patients great reassurance their recovery is progressing and helps them save time and money by reducing the need to attend hospital follow-up appointments.

The App has already been shortlisted to the finals of two national HSJ Digital Awards for Supporting Elective Recovery through Digital and Moving Towards Net Zero through Digital.

Patients love reassurance from staff via the App

Patients who have been involved in the pilot last year have been enthusiastic about how much support it enables them to have quick access to key hospital staff.

Colin Budden, 64, from Market Harborough, had an emergency operation to remove a blockage from his stomach caused by hiatus hernia on December 30. He said: “I returned home and was given an App called “Post Op”, downloaded to my phone.

“An Elective Nurse Practitioner, Mel Moore, kept in touch with me and kept me informed of what was going on by regularly messaging me and keeping an eye on my wound via pictures through the App on a daily basis.

“This was to ensure I was keeping well and recovering from my surgery.

“It is very reassuring that there is someone monitoring you and that if anything goes wrong they will be there to help.”

Agnes Anderson, 60, from Great Oakley, had a total knee replacement on her right leg in June last year.

“Using this App has allowed me to have access to professional advice as and when I've needed it and a reply has always come back to my inquiries within 24 hours.

“I've been able to submit photographs and video footage of my wound so that professionals may check to see that it's healing and this has been done on a daily basis.

“We all know that today our GPs are so busy, it isn't always possible to get an appointment to see them when we need them, let alone to ask them questions about your recovery, which may be quite insignificant to some but very important to you the patient!

“I believe that using Post Op has aided my recovery and helped me to get back on the road to normality and to have a healthy lifestyle again.

“It has given me peace of mind to be able to liaise with the medical profession and to have information which has been explained well to me to allow me to look after myself and my wound properly.

“The App asks questions of you daily. How are you sleeping? How are you feeling in yourself? Etc etc... so it covers all aspects of things that I hadn't expected after major surgery.

“I would highly recommend this brilliant and innovative App and I can see that in the future it will develop further to become an even better tool for patients, who like me, are in great need of recovery information.”

Associate Specialist in Trauma and Orthopaedics Mr Faizal Rayan, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon Hamidreza Khairandish, Infection Control Nurse Specialist Sara Monteiro and

Elective Nurse Practitioner, Melanie Moore, worked with patients and technology experts to develop the App.

Mr Rayan said: “This is all about making the experience of having an operation at hospital and then recovering afterwards easier and less stressful for patients.

“It is about using technology to help reduce concerns and give them the confidence that everything is going well.

“In those cases where people do have problems – such as wound infections or difficulty in moving after joint replacements – we can see from pictures and videos what the problem might be and act quickly to address it if necessary.”

Infection Control Nurse Specialist Sara Monteiro said: “It is important to monitor post-surgery wounds for 30 days because the antibiotics taken to prevent infection can sometimes mask an infection that can develop and cause problems.

“Having the App enables us to take a good look at how a wound is healing and either reassure the patient that everything is looking good or bring them in if there is something we need to investigate further.”

In 2019 early work was done on the App with patients but was on hold during Covid with more work following in 2022-23 including workshops with patients to see what they really wanted to know and would benefit from after their operations.

Elective Nurse Practitioner Melanie Moore said: “Having any surgery is worrying for the patient and may end up with a long recovery time, but especially major colorectal surgery. It has also proven very useful for emergency surgical patients.

“It can be very traumatic for the patient and they can be concerned about their post operative symptoms and recovery.

“The App enabled us to keep a close eye on our patients and helped us to guide them through their recovery – and enabled us to address specific concerns promptly.”

App use is set to be expanded

One of the aims of the new App is to help standardise recovery care and so far it has been used for elective hip and knee replacements and colorectal operations.

Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon Hamidreza Khairandish said: “We very much hope the use of the App will be able to be expanded across the Trust to support more of our patients.

“We have also demonstrated it at events and are getting interest in it from other NHS Trusts.

“It is an excellent example of the use of digital technology to help monitor and improve the patient experience of hospital care and after care.”

Patients are given a QR cope and can load the App only with the permission of the hospital to ensure privacy and data security. It can be used for some standard patient questionnaires which must be carried out after operations and also for ones tailored to find out particular outcomes.

Mr Rayan added: “The App was used by 42 patients initially and it can also be used as a community resource enabling patients to talk about their own experience and do things like pass on tips about what helped with their own recovery.”

Benefits of the App have included:

• A 15% reduction in the number of post-operative follow-up calls, suggesting that patients could obtain the information they required.
• A 10% decrease in the number of readmissions for complications
• NHS savings of about £60,000 per 100 patients because it reduced the frequency of unnecessary inpatient visits, leading to decreased use of hospital resources and associated environmental impacts, including energy consumption and medical waste.
• 25% reduction in patient travel-related carbon emissions
• Reduced paper use

People from various backgrounds, including those with medical limitations, can benefit from the program because it is user-friendly, easily accessible, and incorporates features like voice navigation and font sizes that can be customized.

This digital award nomination celebrates a unique collaboration between clinicians, patients and the digital team towards improving patient care at Kettering. The digital team led by group CDO Natasha Chare and Ramandeep Kaur, CCIO at Kettering and their predecessors ensured continuous and seamless deployment of the application into all surgical pathways.

The HSJ Digital Awards finals are being held on June 6 in Manchester and the Trust’s two entries will be up against other top projects from around the country – see https://digitalawards.hsj.co.uk/shortlist-2024