Better online tools for UK kidney patients to manage their health and care16 September 2010
NHS Kidney Care has enhanced the Renal Patient View (RPV) website, which is used by over 10,000 kidney patients to take an active role in their care.
Renal Patient View provides a secure online portal through which patients can view details of their diagnosis and latest test results. The new developments include a tool for patients to enter their own data, and a discussion forum.
Beverley Matthews, director of NHS Kidney Care, said: "These latest developments will further enable kidney patients to become involved in the planning of their care, to manage their health and access peer support. Renal Patient View is an excellent resource for the kidney community but, until now, has only enabled one-way dialogue, with clinicians entering data for patients to view. The additions to the site will help to engage patients in taking a more active role in managing, and understanding, their condition."
Renal Patient View was developed by RIXG (Renal Information Exchange Group) led by Neil Turner, professor of nephrology at Edinburgh University. He said: "It's exciting to be moving Renal Patient View forward with these developments, which provide opportunities for more patient interaction and promise to be useful tools in implementing care planning and shared decision making. Renal Patient View has now been adopted by many renal units but there is still variation in its usage, so I hope these new features will encourage more units to get behind it and to urge their patients to log on."
New features
* Patient entered data and blog: patients can now upload their own blood pressure, weight and glucose measurements and enter a dated comment about their condition in a new blog feature. This personal record of the user's wellbeing, in conjunction with the clinical test results available on RPV can be used to support shared decision making during clinical consultations.
* Discussion forum: The forum provides kidney patients with the opportunity to make contact with fellow patients and provide support, information and advice. The forum has now been live for a number of weeks and is already well-used. Current discussion topics include transplantation, getting back to work and whether MRSA and hepatitis status should be available on RPV.
* Statistical data available to renal units: There are now regular statistical returns to all participating units allowing them to better understand patterns of usage including patient count and log in patterns.
More information
The Renal Patient View website is at:
www.renalpatientview.orgNational Service Framework for Renal Services:
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/Renal/DH_4102636NHS Kidney Care:
www.kidneycare.nhs.uk/ http://www.bjhcim.co.uk/news/2010/n1009020.htm
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