AN OVERVIEW OF THE DIGITAL HEALTH INTERVENTIONS ADAPTED AT ONE HOSPICE IN RESPONSE TO THE PANDEMIC

ABSTRACT

Background Palliative care services have responded rapidly and innovatively to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic (Dunleavy, Preston, Bajwah, et al., 2021;Etkind, Bone, Lovell, et al., 2020). Digital health interventions (DHI) have the potential to improve service provision (Finucane, O'Donnell, Lugton, et al., 2021;Bush, Perez, Baum, et al., 2018), with increasing evidence supporting the use of video consultations in palliative care as a safe and effective adjunct to face-to-face patient contact (Sutherland, Strickland, Wee, 2020). Aim To evaluate the extent to which two digital health interventions were adapted by one hospice in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Method An electronic health record system was already in use (SystmOne) at the hospice and these new digital health interventions were incorporated in response to the pandemic•Video consultations.•'Authority to Administer' (ATA) electronic charts on SystmOne, authorising administration of injectable medications by community nurses for people at end-of-life being cared for at home. These were in addition to paper community drug charts, usually completed by GPs, community or hospice prescribers. Results•Video consultations From none (pre-pandemic) to a monthly average of 68 in early 2020, nearly doubling to an average of 132 in early 2021.•ATAs increased from a monthly average of five (mid 2020) to 27 (first quarter, 2021).•35% of ATAs (49 out of 144 in a 42 week period) were completed at weekends or late evening, with likely patient benefit as delays awaiting completion by urgent care prescribers were potentially avoided. Conclusion Digital health interventions are firmly embedded in the day to day provision of palliative care services. As well as using NHS approved software such as accuRx for secure video consultations, staff have also innovated in using this technology to communicate more effectively with patients, such as sending clinic letters, symptom assessment questionnaires, patient information leaflets and text summaries of medication changes directly to patient devices. There is huge scope to incorporate digital health interventions further within palliative care to meet the changing needs of local communities.