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With the NuaHealth platform, GPs can provide virtual consultations to avoid physical contact during the Covid-19 crisis.
Irish medtech start-up Nua Solutions is rolling out a service that could help minimise trips to GP offices as Irish people are told to stay at home to mitigate the spread of Covid-19.
Its NuaHealth app enables doctors to provide patients with virtual consultations through their smartphones, tablets and computers. According to the company’s CEO, Oisín Kim, NuaHealth could protect GPs and patients as the risk of spreading Covid-19 increases.
Kim said that the Irish health service is facing challenges that were unthinkable a few months ago, and that things are set to get worse, with the Government predicting that there could be up to 15,000 cases of Covid-19 by the end of March.
“Everyone is coming together to help slow the spread of Covid-19,” he added. “The agility shown by both Apple and Google in fast-tracking the app through the app store’s review process with help from local Apple and Google people was astounding.”
The app went live earlier this week and is now being offered at cost price to clinicians around the country.
Facilitating a change
Dr Nick Flynn of MyCorkGP.ie said: “The Covid-19 crisis has seen my practice change beyond recognition in the last 10 days. Central to facilitating that change has been the addition of a video consultation solution from NuaHealth. User friendly, secure and provided at cost price, it has proven popular with our GPs but more importantly with our patients.”
Already, more than 360 Irish clinicians have signed up to use the service, which has been brought to app stores in Ireland after consultation with the HSE and the Department of Health.
Prof Martin Curley, HSE digital transformation director, said: “We are pleased to partner with NuaHealth to produce a HSE-branded video consultation tool for GPs and other healthcare providers in a matter of days.
“Their agility and the willingness to offer the service at cost price is a great exemplar of how the digital health ecosystem in Ireland is responding to the Covid-19 crisis.”
Telemedicine
Nua Solutions already offers online doctor services in Ireland and Germany, supporting more than 750,000 patients with telemedicine software and services. It was founded by Kim, along with Howard Kim, Martin Commins, Dr Sylvester Mooney, Krzysztof Adamski and Gerard Kelly in 2013.
The HSE is also currently working with Wellola, a Dublin-based tech company that has developed an online portal allowing GPs and healthcare providers to treat people remotely so they can protect themselves from Covid-19.
