{"id":97198,"date":"2019-07-24T15:31:11","date_gmt":"2019-07-24T15:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.microsoft.com\/?p=433802"},"modified":"2019-07-24T15:31:11","modified_gmt":"2019-07-24T15:31:11","slug":"how-patient-info-website-uses-azure-to-keep-its-finger-on-the-pulse-of-health-in-the-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2019\/07\/24\/how-patient-info-website-uses-azure-to-keep-its-finger-on-the-pulse-of-health-in-the-uk\/","title":{"rendered":"How Patient.Info website uses Azure to keep its finger on the pulse of health in the UK"},"content":{"rendered":"
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One of the biggest impacts of technology on healthcare has been the ability to turn your home into a basic GP surgery. Smartwatches can measure your heart rate, blood pressure and how many calories you\u2019ve burnt; digital assistants can remind you to exercise; gadgets will help you monitor your asthma and cope with back pain; you can videochat with your doctor via your laptop. You can even buy smart shorts that log electrical activity in your muscles.<\/p>\n

The gradual shift from calling a GP surgery to make an appointment and travelling there, to monitoring and managing conditions as part of your regular day \u2013 often online \u2013 is being welcomed at both ends of the phone line.<\/p>\n

As one of the most popular medical websites in the UK, Patient.Info<\/a><\/strong> is at the forefront of this revolution. More than 100 million people logged on to the site in 2018 to read articles about healthcare, check symptoms and learn to live a healthier life.<\/p>\n

Jason Keane<\/a><\/strong>, Chief Executive, says Patient.Info\u2019s success and popularity is a result of the clear, accurate and reliable clinical information people find on the site, which has all been written by healthcare professionals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe objective is to empower people to make informed choices,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s about understanding the patient\u2019s needs and offering them great content so they can manage their own care. It\u2019s getting patients to the services they need. Patient.Info plays a critical role in not only being able to give people the ability to make informed choices, because the content is written and peer reviewed by GPs, but it makes the entire experience very safe and secure in one tool.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n

<img width="4032" height="3024" src="https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/how-patient-info-website-uses-azure-to-keep-its-finger-on-the-pulse-of-health-in-the-uk.jpg" class="animate-viewport c-image" alt="Sarah Jarvis and Jason Keane" srcset="https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/how-patient-info-website-uses-azure-to-keep-its-finger-on-the-pulse-of-health-in-the-uk.jpg 4032w, https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/how-patient-info-website-uses-azure-to-keep-its-finger-on-the-pulse-of-health-in-the-uk-2.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/how-patient-info-website-uses-azure-to-keep-its-finger-on-the-pulse-of-health-in-the-uk-3.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/how-patient-info-website-uses-azure-to-keep-its-finger-on-the-pulse-of-health-in-the-uk-4.jpg 1600w" sizes="(max-width: 4032px) 100vw, 4032px" data-attachment-id="75200" data-permalink="https:\/\/news.microsoft.com\/en-gb\/features\/patient-info-is-using-azure-to-keep-its-finger-on-the-pulse-of-the-nations-health\/sarahjason\/" data-orig-file="https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/how-patient-info-website-uses-azure-to-keep-its-finger-on-the-pulse-of-health-in-the-uk.jpg" data-orig-size="4032,3024" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="sarahJason" data-image-description="<\/p>\n

Sarah Jarvis and Jason Keane<\/p>\n

” data-medium-file=”https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/how-patient-info-website-uses-azure-to-keep-its-finger-on-the-pulse-of-health-in-the-uk-2.jpg” data-large-file=”https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/how-patient-info-website-uses-azure-to-keep-its-finger-on-the-pulse-of-health-in-the-uk-4.jpg”><\/p>\n

Sarah Jarvis and Jason Keane<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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A high level of safety and security is important when people are sharing personal information online, so Keane and Clinical Director Sarah Jarvis MBE<\/a><\/strong> took no chances and moved Patient.Info onto Azure, Microsoft\u2019s cloud platform. They also use Power BI to quickly and easily understand all the information held in their Data Lake.<\/p>\n

Moving to Azure<\/a><\/strong> also allows the website to cope with sudden surges in demand \u2013 during winter when flu is more prevalent, for example \u2013 as Azure will automatically free up more server space when needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur users need to have complete confidence in what we\u2019re doing,\u201d Keane adds. \u201cWe work with Microsoft because we know all of the data is in a very safe and secure environment. It\u2019s the best technology out there to really make sure that all of that information is not only safe and secure but meets UK and EU law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patient.Info grew out of an online health information director set up by Dr Tim Kenny and his wife, Dr Beverley Kenny, in 1996. Tim led a group of medical authors to produce a resource for medical staff and their patients.<\/p>\n

It has evolved into an award-winning service led by Jarvis \u2013 a GP, former GP trainer and resident doctor for the Jeremy Vine show on BBC Radio 2 \u2013 that also produces a newsletter sent to 750,000 subscribers and around 3,200 leaflets for patients and doctors on health conditions and 850 on medicines, in addition to hundreds of editorial features, all medically peer reviewed and approved.<\/p>\n

Its 23-year growth has been mirrored by a rise in demand for GPs and the services they provide in communities. In 2017, the British Medical Association warned that the NHS was at breaking point<\/a><\/strong>. There are around 34,000 GPs in the UK, but a report by the King\u2019s Fund, Nuffield Trust and Health Foundation<\/a><\/strong> in March this year stated that the shortfall in the number of GPs is \u201cso serious that it cannot be filled at all\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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The Government is drawing up a Green Paper on social care in the UK, with former Deputy PM Damian Green recommending new taxes on older people<\/a><\/strong> and a private insurance model to top up a universal level of state care.<\/p>\n

Jarvis has been a GP since 1990, and has seen first-hand the demand levels rise.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that we have a huge crisis in the number of GPs and healthcare provision across the UK, we know that the Department of Health is moving very long way towards trying to empower people to be in charge of their own conditions and to self-care,\u201d she says. \u201cWe know that up to one-in-three people walking up to A&E does not need to be there, and about the same proportion in general practice. We need to engage patients; we know that up to half of medications are not taken as they should be, and that\u2019s even more of an issue for patients who are taking what we call preventive medication.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo much of the work we do these days is proactive, it\u2019s about keeping people healthy and stopping them from getting ill in the first place,\u201d Jarvis says. \u201cThat means that it\u2019s not remotely surprising given that we\u2019re doing so much more for our patients, and that they\u2019re getting older and that they have more long-term conditions, that GP workload has increased by about 50% in the past 10 to 12 years alone. We have to empower patients to self-manage if general practice is going to survive and be there when people need it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n

<img width="4000" height="2660" src="https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/how-patient-info-website-uses-azure-to-keep-its-finger-on-the-pulse-of-health-in-the-uk-1.jpg" class="animate-viewport c-image" alt="Doctor talking to patient, shows laptop with hospital website on the screen" srcset="https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/how-patient-info-website-uses-azure-to-keep-its-finger-on-the-pulse-of-health-in-the-uk-1.jpg 4000w, https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/how-patient-info-website-uses-azure-to-keep-its-finger-on-the-pulse-of-health-in-the-uk-5.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/how-patient-info-website-uses-azure-to-keep-its-finger-on-the-pulse-of-health-in-the-uk-6.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/how-patient-info-website-uses-azure-to-keep-its-finger-on-the-pulse-of-health-in-the-uk-7.jpg 1600w" sizes="(max-width: 4000px) 100vw, 4000px" data-attachment-id="73827" data-permalink="https:\/\/news.microsoft.com\/en-gb\/2018\/12\/04\/scottish-research-company-aridhia-is-moving-to-azure-which-could-be-a-huge-boost-for-alzheimers-research\/rawpixel-760103-unsplash\/" data-orig-file="https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/how-patient-info-website-uses-azure-to-keep-its-finger-on-the-pulse-of-health-in-the-uk-1.jpg" data-orig-size="4000,2660" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="rawpixel-760103-unsplash" data-image-description="<\/p>\n

Doctor talking to patient, shows laptop with hospital website on the screen<\/p>\n

” data-medium-file=”https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/how-patient-info-website-uses-azure-to-keep-its-finger-on-the-pulse-of-health-in-the-uk-5.jpg” data-large-file=”https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/how-patient-info-website-uses-azure-to-keep-its-finger-on-the-pulse-of-health-in-the-uk-7.jpg”><\/p>\n

“So much of the work we do these days is proactive, it’s about keeping people healthy and stopping them from getting ill in the first place”<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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According to research published in 2017 in BMJ Open<\/a><\/strong>, the open access medical research journal, GP appointments in the UK last an average of 9.22 minutes. People in 28 countries, including the US (21.07 minutes), Switzerland (17 minutes), Belgium (15 minutes) and Sweden (22.5 minutes), spend longer with their doctor.<\/p>\n

The challenge for GPs is to offer people the best possible care when they are seeing them for less than 10 minutes. Patient.Info is helping family doctors by giving them fast access to information they can trust, while they are in a room with a patient.<\/p>\n

\u201cAround 60% of the GPs in the country have access to the information on Patient.Info directly within their consulting systems, which they can trust completely because it was written by their peers and it\u2019s been peer reviewed,\u201d Jarvis adds. \u201cThey can read it on their screen while the patient is in the consultation. I\u2019ve used Patient.Info for 20 years and it is such an invaluable part of my working life. A patient came in recently complaining of chest pain, shortness of breath and dizziness, and was convinced they were dying. I could immediately bring up the page on panic attacks, go through it with them and say, look at these symptoms, you\u2019re having panic attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n

As people live longer, they develop more complex medical conditions that need to be managed. Whether it\u2019s a website full of easy-to-read information or a leaflet, simplicity is key when a large proportion of the people who use NHS services are elderly. Azure is ensuring that no matter how technologically adept or otherwise someone is, they can still access the care they need.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

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One of the biggest impacts of technology on healthcare has been the ability to turn your home into a basic GP surgery. Smartwatches can measure your heart rate, blood pressure and how many calories you\u2019ve burnt; digital assistants can remind you to exercise; gadgets will help you monitor your asthma and cope with back pain; […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[106,50],"class_list":["post-97198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-microsoft-news","tag-healthcare","tag-recent-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}