A group of NHS trusts have begun to equip patients suffering from long covid with a mobile phone app to monitor the condition.
It has been developed by teams from the University of Leeds, Leeds Teaching Hospitals and Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trusts, along with digital health company Elaros and software developers Pipe and Piper.
Among the trusts to have begun using the app at the beginning of the month are Salford Royal, Pennine Acute, Liverpool University, Airedale and Leeds Community Healthcare.
Long covid refers to persistent symptoms – including breathlessness, fatigue and brain fog – that continue for four weeks and longer after contracting Covid-19. Approximately 70,000 people have reportedly suffered from the condition for at least a year.
The app takes the patient through a series of questions on their health status before contracting Covid-19 and how it is now. The information is displayed in two radar plots showing scores on the severity of symptoms and functional disability.
Patients are asked to regularly update the app and the radar plots will show their progress.
The information is stored on a secure and confidential database that can be accessed by the NHS team involved in their care, to monitor their progress and to evaluate treatment options.
Yorkshire Rehabilitation
The app uses a version of the Covid-19 Yorkshire Rehabilitation Scale, a questionnaire developed by a team led by Dr Manoj Sivan, associate professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Leeds.
He commented: “Long covid is a new condition, and it is causing long term health problems for many patients. Given the scale of the problem, it is likely to strain healthcare services and burden the economy. We need efficient systems to manage the growing caseload and to standardise care across the NHS.
“The app and associated web portal will allow healthcare staff to rapidly assess and triage patients. Patients and families can also see their progression and their response to treatments."
Image from iStock, franz12
