Opportunistic Screening
Proactively identifying individuals at risk
Keeping people as healthy as possible by picking up potential clinical issues before they happen means less hospital admissions and more positive outcomes for the individual – making a significant difference to the health of the nation.
Opportunistic screening – or opportunistic assessment as it is sometimes known – is a way of identifying patients who may have an undiagnosed medical problem. We have extensive experience of doing just this with our population health platform, which is used to help health teams proactively intervene in flagging potentially fatal conditions for 17m+ people.
Stroke and heart attack prevention is just one way that our opportunistic screening programme can be used. By screening cohorts of people at risk, we are able to dramatically reduce life changing illnesses and even prevent deaths. Our stroke prevention programme uses monitoring devices such as ECG monitors, oximeters or blood pressure monitors to collect health data across a range of people, some of whom may have an undiagnosed medical condition.
Why opportunistic screening?
As well as being devastating for patients and their families, strokes are estimated to cost the NHS around £3 billion per year, with additional costs to the economy of a further £4 billion in lost productivity, disability and informal care [1].
Screening supports the management of patient care in a proactive way. Screening flags up potential issues earlier and before a potentially fatal illness takes place.
In essence, screening is a proactive process where health teams collect data and monitor the health of a community. Opportunistic screening provides benefits both to patients and care teams. Proactive stroke and heart attack prevention leads to healthier communities and supports health teams to focus on those most in need, it also frees up hospital beds and vital resources within the health system.
Graphnet and opportunistic screening
With Graphnet, opportunistic screening is simple to set up and practice. Our DOCOBOAPP™ enables services to screen and collect data quickly and easily and can be used within kiosks. The data collected enables healthcare professionals to signpost individuals to the right service and identify health inequalities in a community setting.
Using DOCOBOAPP™ is so intuitive, even for those who have no previous experience can easily navigate it. Should a screened measurement be outside of typical parameters, DOCOBOAPP™ can immediately alert the clinical team.
We’ve been doing remote monitoring since 2001, so we are experts and our whole ethos is keeping people out of hospital when they don’t need to be there.
Where can you use screening?
Patient surveys that can be completed within GP surgeries or pharmacies while people are waiting for their appointment are examples of opportunistic screening. Individuals can securely add their information on a tablet in a private area or in a community setting while waiting to see a pharmacist. It’s not only about collecting clinical information, surveys can be about lifestyle or mood and more.
We work in a number of specialist areas, including KCCQ, EuroQoL and P3CEQ (national standard surveys for managing heart failure patients).
Who do Graphnet work with on this?
We work with partners on the NHS England Innovation for Healthcare Inequalities Programme (InHIP). InHIP aims to address local healthcare inequalities that are experienced by deprived and other under-served populations.
In addition to this, we are working with Health Innovation West Midlands on the InHIP project, who are collaborating with local communities to identify, address and minimise healthcare inequalities to improve access to the latest health technologies and medicines. This closely aligns with the national Core20PLUS5 approach to reducing healthcare inequalities, which includes maternity, mental health, respiratory, cancer diagnosis and cardiovascular disease.
Talk to our team today about how we can support you with opportunistic screening
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Benefits of Opportunistic Screening
Opportunistic screening collects a few simple measurements that may establish an undetected health concern for specific individuals. Benefits include:
- Managing community care proactively rather than reactively
- Capturing data that supports early interventions may lead to better health outcomes
- An opportunity to discuss and support education of healthy lifestyle choices
- Improving public health
