MyPHR case study
A web application designed for users of community and mental health services in Merseyside will enable them to take control of their health information.
The MyPHR care platform has been developed by Mindwave in partnership with Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, with a user-centred approach that will ensure it fully meets service user needs.
Built using open source code and co-designed with both clinicians and end users, MyPHR enables people to access their care plans and appointment information, view trusted resources, set and monitor health goals, and share information with friends and family by inviting them to be part of a ‘circle of support’.
THE CHALLENGE
Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust was formed by two organisations coming together; this had resulted in siloed data records held by separate teams on separate systems which could not communicate.
The Trust recognised that this lack of communication was impacting on patient care and service user experience, with people sometimes having to undergo the same medical tests twice for different Trust service teams.
Mersey Care were interested in implementing a PHR solution to bring patient information together on one easy to access platform. They approached Mindwave, having seen a version we had developed for another Trust specifically around that Trust’s mental health service. The flexibility of our PHR allowed us to easily adapt it to create a bespoke app which would suite Mersey Care’s desire to support their service users in accessing both community and mental health support.
OUR SOLUTION
User research and user-centred design is at the heart of our approach; we began the project with a discovery phase. Over the life of the project, our user researchers have captured nearly 400 insights from clinicians, service users and carers within Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust. Our designers have analysed these insights, mapped them against defined categories and prioritised them based on user need, clinical efficacy and technical feasibility to allow us to constantly develop and improve MyPHR.
With each new release of the app we have refined and added features based on extensive user feedback. Initial features we developed included access to patient care plans and appointment schedules, and trackers to monitor sleep, problems and mood. Based on user and clinician feedback, over time we have also developed combined tracking graphs, so that users can see how each of these factors affect each other, and added a selection of self-help resources covering a variety of topics. Following initial Trust feedback that the focus of the app was weighted towards mental health, we have also developed additional trackers for smoking, alcohol and pain management.
In the most recent release, in March 2020, we incorporated the ability for users to share and revoke different aspects of their health information with trusted people such as carers, clinicians and other professionals, through our Circle feature.
We are currently working with EMIS and Rio so that MyPHR integrates fully with both and data can flow both ways; integrating with these third party digital tools and services will enable users to log directly into the app using their NHS login, and enrich their experience in using it.
FUTURE PLANS
The Trust now plans to run a pilot scheme involving around 40 service users under the care of one of the Trust’s new teams. We have developed a number of features to support the upcoming pilot, such as creating automated email notifications so the Trust can more easily track sign-up numbers.
A messaging feature, as well as integration with wearables and video consultations, are all on our roadmap for implementation. There is also the potential to integrate with digital social prescribing platform Elemental, to support service users with a wide range of wellbeing needs through non-clinical programmes, services and events.