Greater Manchester ICB has launched digital care plans and a local patient app to deliver more personalised care to patients.
The patient-facing app, called My GM Care, will allow patients to contribute to their care plans, self-record blood pressure, weight and mood, and share personal information with healthcare professionals.
The ICB said the aim of this was to improve the quality of care and enable people to take control of their own health.
Alongside the app, the ICB launched digital care plans for dementia and heart failure patients, to enable clinical teams to view a person’s care plan and personal preferences. They are the latest in a series of care plans launched by the ICB, including frailty and end of life.
These care plans have been developed by Health Innovation Manchester and Graphnet within the GM care record, which is a local shared care record for the 2.8m population of Greater Manchester, accessed via electronic patient record systems.
Both tools are being piloted in Tameside and Glossop, but rollout is planned across Greater Manchester ‘in the coming months’. They are part of the ICB’s health and care digital transformation strategy which aims to digitise healthcare, facilitate integration and innovate.
Dr Saif Ahmed, clinical digital lead at Health Innovation Manchester said: ‘The upload of digital dementia wellbeing care plans and heart failure care plans in the pilot phase demonstrates the demand for digital solutions to facilitate seamless care plan sharing and ensure equitable care provision for all.
‘This is a great step in ensuring reduced variability of care across Greater Manchester. Also, the My GM Care allows us for first time to give patients access and input into their care record.’
Dr Amir Hannan, GP at Haughton Thornley Medical Centres, added: ‘My GM Care could be the next game changer for the residents of Greater Manchester allowing people to take further control of their healthcare by allowing them to monitor their health and wellbeing, being better prepared for any future event as well as in an emergency, and helping to plan future care alongside the NHS app or equivalent GP app.’
David Grigsby, chief business development officer at Graphnet said he hoped the care plans and app would ‘change the lives of thousands of people’ in the area.
‘Personalised care and support planning is essential for helping people living with dementia or cardio-vascular disease. These latest developments make sure that everyone involved in care has access to vital, personalised information, including the patient, and is another example of population health solutions becoming the core IT system supporting all aspects of integrated care,’ he said.
It comes as a report found there was inconsistent data infrastructure across ICSs in England, with this risking increasing inequalities.
