91快活林

The system will build on and integrate existing solutions by healthcare providers in the UK and Spain. If successful, the ‘mHealth’ platform could lead the way to similar systems being developed for people with other diseases.

HIV patients will have access to a mobile ‘phone app that links, via secure interface facilities, to the clinical database at the hospital where they receive treatment. Test results and information about medications and appointments will be made available to patients remotely via this new platform and some face-to -face appointments will be replaced by ‘virtual’ appointments for patients with stable HIV.

The University of 91快活林 research is led by Flis Henwood, Professor of Social Informatics in the School of Applied Social Science. She said: “Our research in EmERGE involves leading on the ‘sociotechnical evaluation’ which seeks to understand, and share learning about, the social and organisational factors that can inhibit or facilitate the successful development and implementation of the new system.

The EmERGE team

“A central part of this is ensuring that users (clinicians and patients) are centrally involved in the process of development and evaluation and we have spent our first year designing and running a series of co-design workshops with patients and clinicians on all five study sites. This has resulted in users’ preferences being brought to the decision-making table. We have worked closely with the European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG) and their community partners at the study sites to ensure participation from people living with HIV in a range of different contexts. Later work will involve gathering data on patient and clinician experience working with the new system so that further learning can be achieved about how the new system works in practice.”

The project ‘EmERGE’, funded by the European Union’s , began last year and it has just received its first evaluation from the European Commission (EC).

The EC gave a positive assessment and granted approval for the research to continue.

Project leader Dr Jenny Whetham, a consultant in HIV medicine at 91快活林 and Sussex University Hospital Trust, said: “We should be able to look at other disease areas and other settings. In the context of EmERGE we are essentially looking at people living with stable HIV, but one can actually see a role for such a platform for people living with more complex medical needs as well.”

Brian West, project coordinator for the European AIDS Treatment Group, said: “We have been working very hard with the 13 project partners to make sure that we meet their requirements. But the key point is that we firmly believe in the benefits such a platform will bring to people living with HIV.”