Christine Campbell and Professor David Graham with the App
The Merseyside and Cheshire Health Innovation and Education Cluster (MCHIEC), which is hosted within University of Liverpool, led a major conference in Liverpool to support the development and adoption of Healthcare Apps in the NHS.
Healthcare Apps – Maximising Impact attracted leading experts in the field of healthcare app development from across the UK and more than 100 clinicians and developers from across the UK attended.
Chaired by Professor David Graham, Head of the Postgraduate Medical School at the University and Director of MCHIEC, the event was inspired by the work of the team behind the Mersey Burns App which included Rowan Pritchard Jones, Plastic Surgeon and Honorary Clinical Lecturer, Professor Paul McArthur, Consultant Plastic Surgeon and Chris Seaton, Developer, University of Manchester.
The Mersey Burns App is the first UK Healthcare App registered as a medical device by the MHRA to carry the CE Mark.
Over the past 12 months MCHIEC has collaborated with the Mersey Burns Team to support the development of the App for Android and HTML5, further evaluation and local implementation, with a view to its widespread adoption by clinicians treating patients with severe burns across the UK and Europe.
Journey
Christine Campbell, MCHIEC Lead Manager, said: “It was clear that Mersey Burns App ‘journey’ from clinical problem on the frontline of burns care, to smart digital solution using the latest available technology and its adoption in the mainstream of the NHS provided significant opportunity for learning and knowledge exchange.
“Working with the Mersey Burns team, we quickly realised this was an area of huge interest to clinicians of all disciplines. The key attraction of the conference was our open call to clinicians and IT developers to come together with regulatory bodies, educationalists and academics to share knowledge and consider the issues this rapidly developing agenda generates in terms of opportunity to enhance patient care, impact on patient safety and contribute to the digital economy.”
Delegates had the opportunity to learn from a number of successful healthcare apps developments, discuss the nuances of the MHRA regulatory framework and consider both opportunities and risks presented in an ever rapidly developing digital health environment.
MCHIEC Director Professor David Graham said: “This is a great example of the HIEC doing its job well, bringing clinicians and others together to drive up the quality of patient care – the momentum from this event will lead not only to more high quality apps designed to support clinical colleagues to deliver care more effectively, but will make an important contribution to the patient safety agenda at a national level.”
Anyone interested in further developments healthcare apps as a result of this event should contact hiec@liv.ac.uk for more information.