The Home Monitoring of Hypertension in Pregnancy app (HaMpton) is one of 11 innovations selected to join the nationally-celebrated NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA).

Dr Asma Khalil, Consultant Obstetrician at St George’s, led the HaMpton app project after having had the idea as a junior doctor.

The app was designed to help reduce the need for pregnant women to make frequent hospital appointments, and to empower them to be involved in their own clinical assessment. It allows women to monitor their blood pressure at home and alerts them if they need to attend hospital for further assessment.

After launching in January 2016, the app has helped reduce the number of appointments for hypertension monitoring by 53%, while maintaining the safety of mother and baby.

Each of the new innovations joining the NIA in 2017 offer solutions to key challenges in Primary Care, Urgent and Emergency Care and Mental Health. Their recruitment onto the NIA follows an international call and robust selection process, including review by a collegiate of over 100 assessors and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

Dr Asma Khalil, Consultant Obstetrician at St George’s, said: “Having the opportunity to develop this idea at St George’s and make it successful has been great. The project wouldn’t have been successful without the enthusiasm of our team and I’m very proud to have worked with them.”

Simon Stevens, NHS England Chief Executive said: “Modern medicine is on the cusp of a huge shift in how care is delivered, and practical innovations like these show how NHS patients will now directly benefit. More tests and patient monitoring will be done at home or on the move, without the need to pitch up to a doctor’s appointment or hospital outpatients.”

Ian Dodge, National Director for Strategy and Innovation at NHS England, said: “Since it started the NHS Innovation Accelerator has continued to deliver for patients and the taxpayer. It’s just one of the ways that the NHS is getting its act together to provide practical help for innovators with the best ideas. From a small investment, we are already seeing very big benefits – safer care for patients, better value for taxpayers, new jobs created and export wins.”

Mike Hannay, Chair of the NHS AHSN Network, said: “As a national NHS AHSN Network we remain committed to supporting the NIA to ensure that as many residents, patients and staff as possible can access these innovations, which support primary care and urgent and emergency care needs. We look forward to working with the new Fellows over the coming months to deliver these innovations at scale across the country.”

For more information about the NIA, visit www.nhsaccelerator.com

 

Picture: The 11 Fellows joining the NIA including Dr Asma Khalil (second from right, bottom row)