Visible partners with West Ambulance Service for virtual triage pilot

Visible has been appointed by the Stroke Implementation Group, part of the Wales NHS Executive, to implement an emergency virtual triage pilot, which will allow stroke patients from the Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust to proceed directly to CT scanning.

This initiative allows stroke patients arriving by ambulance to bypass the emergency department entirely. Instead, ambulance teams will work closely with hospital-based stroke teams to classify potential stroke patients and get them on the right treatment path as quickly as possible.

Diagnosing stroke can be challenging, but a new triage pilot is expected to reduce the number of stroke mimicking attendances at A&E departments. In September 2012, 52.8% of stroke assessments in England and Wales ultimately resulted in stroke-like symptoms known as stroke mimics.

In addition, it is hoped that the pilot will also increase thrombolysis rates for stroke patients.

Shakeel Ahmed, national clinical lead for stroke at Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, where the pilot operation will take place, said: “Our aim is to have a structured pre-hospital assessment so that patients can be put on the right track to reach early. ” Life-changing treatments such as thrombolysis and thrombectomy.

“We hope that this project will lead to a reduction in stroke symptoms coming to the hospital, thereby reducing the burden on the emergency department. Our goal is to digitally connect the entire stroke pathway and this is the first step in our journey.”

Visible’s pre-hospital stroke triage solution will give West Ambulance Service NHS Trust clinicians virtual access to an on-call team via an app. This will allow them to securely share patient feeds through their cameras.

‘See what I see’ triage approach helps stroke specialists remotely interact with ambulance physician and patient in real time, with functionality enabling a single view of patient diagnosis, video feed and vital statistics Is.

Last year a partnership between Ipswich Hospital, Visible and AI-powered company Brainomics has already seen the hospital deliver a best-in-class service to its stroke patients.

Alan Lowe, CEO of Visible, said: “Stroke is a key priority area for Visible. We already support the East of England to digitally deliver stroke care and are now proud to be expanding the use of our technology in Wales.

“We look forward to sharing the results of this project so we can continue to drive innovation and digital transformation in other healthcare settings across the country as well as in other areas.”

The new partnership aims to fully integrate the technology into the stroke care workflow for Cardiff and Vale. Ultimately, this will provide a tried and tested blueprint for launching a similar service in other regions.