New digital system to help patients living with long-term conditions

Patients living with long-term health conditions in Derbyshire are set to benefit from a new digital system being introduced across DHU Healthcare GP practices, designed to help ensure they receive the right care, at the right time. The system, Abtrace, will be implemented at Buxton Medical Practice and Eyam Surgery in Derbyshire to support patients through a more streamlined and co-ordinated management of long-term conditions such as diabetes, asthma, heart disease and hypertension. For clinical teams, the system will provide greater visibility of a patient’s condition across the whole practice team to increase consistency of care and routine monitoring, improving the ability to identify patients who need closer review or a change in treatment. Jo Lacey, Director of Primary Care at DHU Healthcare, said: "Living with a long-term condition can be overwhelming for patients who balance appointments, medication and regular tests alongside the demands of everyday life, we want to make that process easier for them. This system can help us to identify exactly when patients need reviews, monitoring or additional support for us to provide more personalised care that enables patients to manage their condition and allows us to respond more quickly when their needs change. “Clinically we will see a reduction in time spent on administrative processes, freeing up more time to focus on direct patient care. This benefits all patients by improving access to appointments and supporting a better overall patient experience across our practices. But most importantly, it will help us recognise changes in a patient's health earlier to enable faster intervention, treatment and support to help them stay well, remain independent and feel confident that their GP practice is providing ongoing, high-quality care."