Coronavirus app to be rolled out across Wolverhampton
A new coronavirus app allowing people to check symptoms and chat with specialists is to be rolled out across Wolverhampton.
Royal Wolverhampton Trust (RWT), which runs New Cross, has become the first provider to sign a deal with Babylon Health for the app.
It means around 300,000 patients registered to a Wolverhampton GP, and all trust staff regardless of where they live, will have access to the app.
More Covid-19 coverage:
Patients who sign up will be able to use the app to check their symptoms, and those with medium-severity symptoms will be offered a live chat with a Babylon staff member or clinician.
Patients will also be able to access the app during self-isolation, and those who need video appointments will have one with a clinician from the trust.
Sultan Mahmud, director of innovation, integration and research for RWT, said: “All this is rooted in having a digital overlay for services and so, as we approach the peak, any help to support patients and staff, extra information, whether it is on an interactive basis or otherwise, is a good thing.
“We are all working extremely hard to tackle Covid-19, but in everything you’ve got to find some positive and I think the positive in this is that this is an innovation and using the best of technology to help the situation and we need to learn from the experience of this and move at pace across the NHS.”
The West Midlands has been a coronavirus hotspot, with Wolverhampton witnessing some of the highest numbers of deaths and it is hoped the app will help ease some of the pressure on the system.
It comes after the Express & Star revealed RWT it is starting in-house testing on staff this week amid concerns that the current system is taking too long.
