Otara practice trials telehealth and remote monitoring

NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

An Otara general practice and MyRivr are co-designing a virtual consult service with the South Auckland community, including the use of remote monitoring devices for patients.

The service is aimed at South Seas Healthcare’s vulnerable population, who are enrolled in its Well Child, ManaKidz and mobile nursing outreach services.

The practice is working with MyRivr to design the virtual service, including surveying patients about what technologies they want to use and what devices and data they have available at home.

Patients are offered a virtual consult and if they choose to, are sent a link to join the consultation. The ultimate aim is to incorporate the telehealth tool into the MyRivr platform, which connects vulnerable communities to more than 8000 local health and social services.

Community nurses are also using a remote monitoring ECG device and a pulse oximeter, provided by SekiTech, when they see patients, with data feeding back into a dashboard that clinic staff can access. 

South Seas clinical director Andrew Chan Mow says staff relied heavily on the telephone to keep in contact with patients during Covid-19 lockdowns, which is not ideal for managing patients with complex conditions.

Video consultations would improve care in these cases, but while many patients have devices, they often lack the data or knowledge to use them.

“We can set up the hardware here, but if the person at the other end doesn’t have the data and device, it’s a waste of time,” he tells eHealthNews.nz.

Chan Mow says post-pandemic, many patients are struggling, and their health priorities have been overtaken by the need to find a job and put food on the table.

“We need to keep that in mind as if we are in better communication with them about their healthcare, they will have better health outcomes,” he says.

MyRivr is a technology company that also has a social enterprise arm that looks at ways to provide data and devices to the digitally excluded. 

Managing director Elia Chan says the organisation is working to understand what the local community want and what technology they have available to participate in virtual consults.

“We are trying to understand our communities and where technology fits into their needs,” he says.

MyRivr is also working with corporate partners to translate the app into Samoan and Te Reo and with telecommunication companies on the idea of corporates ‘donating’ their unused data, that can then be given to those without internet access.

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