NHS Liverpool Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has picked Docobo in a drive to expand its telehealth service during the next three years.

Since 2013, the project, launched through the CCG’s More Independent programme, has grown significantly, with figures showing it supports around 900 patients at the same time.

With the new platform, it is expected that around 4-5,000 patients will benefit from the service, which incorporates a variety of education, remote monitoring and automated alerting rules.

The three-year contract award notice, with an estimated value of approximately £11.5m and an option to extend it for a further two years, was published at the beginning of December.

In spite of the short timeframe, the CCG has already gone live with the system, with around 50 patients reportedly being recruited onto it every week.  
An evaluation of the programme indicated that it has the potential to reduce demand on other services and empower patients to take control of their health and care. Dave Horsfield, Digital Care and Innovation Lead at NHS Liverpool CCG, explained that they wanted to ‘stretch the technical capability to open up other options’. 

“When people came off the previous programme, we couldn’t offer a step down option that would enable them to use their own smart device to continue to access self-help advice.

“Because the programme aims to guide people towards longer-term self-management of their conditions, this was one of the gaps we were keen to fill,” the CCG lead added.