PocketEye: A novel UK cloud-based digital triage platform for NHS eye care

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**Problem**There are approximately 2.02 million NHS patient visits/year for secondary emergency eye care, and 9million attendances/year for routine eye appointments. Studies show 20% of NHS emergency eye care attendances are deemed as unnecessary and preventable for same-day (400,000 visits/annum), costing an extra £80 million to the NHS per year, and 33% of routine eye appointments could be remotely triaged (3million visits/annum, costing approximately £360million/ year). There is currently no approved system or method that enables digital remote triaging for emergency and routine eye conditions. Current communication between primary and secondary eye care professionals is limited to telephone for advice and referrals. This leads to inefficiencies and increased burden placed on hospital staff (doctors, nurses and administrative), as well as a poorer experience for patients who are making unnecessary preventable same-day trips to hospitals. Furthermore, this burden is contributing to increased waiting times in A&E, and exposing patients to COVID-19 as they wait in crowded hospital eye casualty waiting rooms. Market research has also shown that primary care (optometrists and GPs) wish for more clinical support and feedback from secondary care (ophthalmologists in Hospital Eye Units) when managing and referring eye conditions.**The solution and innovation**We are developing the first cloud-based platform enabling secure communication between primary and secondary eye care, ensuring seamless referrals and remote specialist triaging for eye care. We aim to provide a platform that is enhanced from feedback from service users, including with live chat, media upload, and filtering features. For patients, optometrists, GPs, and hospital eye services, we aim to enhance a patient's journey from community to hospital, ensuring patient safety is the central focus. Project benefits include:1. Reduce unnecessary emergency referrals to secondary care2. Reduce waiting times in eye A&E3. Enhance communication and clinical decision-making between primary and secondary eye care4. Reduce low-resource burden on NHS staff5. Save NHS hospitals up to £440 million per year on avoidable costs6. Improve patient experience and safety by reducing waiting times and detecting sight-saving conditions7. Increase clinical support, advice, guidance and feedback for optometrists and GPs in primary care for eye conditions**Impact**PocketEye's aim is to reduce the economic and resource burden from secondary eye care, enhance communication with primary eye care, and to improve patients' experience through secure collaborative communication, with potential cost savings of up to £440 million per year to the NHS. This timely technology is therefore urgently needed.