BBC North West feature ELAROS' C19-YRS in Salford

Northern Care Alliance NHS Group report the successes of the digital C19-YRS platform

The Northern Care Alliance NHS group (NCA) has published an article detailing some of their experiences of using the Covid-19 Yorkshire Rehabilitation Scale (C19-YRS).

All of the quotes in this article are taken from the original NCA press release which can be found here.

You can also watch the full BBC North West News Item from the 3rd September 2021 from the 3rd September here.

The NCA has worked with Salford city council to support members of their community suffering from long-COVID. Their team relied on manual screening using the paper version of the C19-YRS prior to the release of the digital version. However the rising numbers of patients in need of support with long-COVID precipitated a need for a more efficient solution.

The release of the digital C19-YRS has meant that “patients will be able to download an app onto their mobile device and update their progress at varying stages of their recovery, allowing their clinician to make any changes to their care management plan.”

This has been the intended purpose of the C19-YRS throughout development, and the testimonials from Salford Royal and Salford’s Single Point of Access team demonstrate the success of the system.

Patient attitudes towards the digital C19-YRS have been very positive, with Taruna Patel from Salford’s Single Point of Access team stating that “Our patients are very keen to use the app as another tool. By inputting the information themselves, they will be able to see how their health is improving over time and use the information to form a discussion with their clinician, as well as to show their family.”.

A patient from Salford stated that “I found the app easy to download and very user friendly. I’m looking forward to using it more and I’m intrigued as to the next step, hoping it will help me to get the right support and care.

The benefits the digital C19-YRS had for the NCA extend don’t just impact patients, and the staff have also felt an easing in the burden of Long-COVID management. “Previously we were making calls and asking people around 30 questions over the phone with the varying responses. It was quite tiring for patients and time consuming, particularly those with severe long-COVID symptoms.”.

Further advantages with the digital system have also been appreciated by the team at Salford, such as improved communication with the Long-COVID Clinic Team, which has allowed them to decide on the “length and type of appointments…to match the needs of the patient.”.

The NCA report also touches on some of the research that is being undertaken using the C19-YRS platform by researchers from the University of Leeds. This is the NIHR funded LOCOMOTION study, led by Professor Nawar Bakerly. The NCA has stated that the digital C19-YRS will allow them to “contribute to national and local research” and Sarah Cannon of Salford PCT believes that the digital C19-YRS “will also help with reporting data required for long COVID at a national level.”

The digital C19-YRS is developed by ELAROS in a partnership with the University of Leeds, Leeds Teaching Hospitals and Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trusts, with support from our software developers, Pipe and Piper.

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