Kuradocs Ltd, a company set up by Island-based entrepreneur Nicola Murgatroyd, has just launched their ground-breaking myra app, initially for testing on the Isle of Wight, with national roll-out planned for later in 2024. The app can be found on the App Store and Google Play: IoS: search for myra: by Kuradocs & myliferaft: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/myra-by-kuradocs-myliferaft/id6478691162 Android: search for myra: hospital discharge app https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.my_life_raft.app&hl=en&gl=US The app is designed to help older adults and their network of carers and supporters to facilitate the process of hospital discharge, and reduce the risk of re-admission. Discharge status data released by NHS England on behalf of nationwide health trusts shows that on any given day in January 2024 there were around 15,000 patients needlessly staying in hospital and the annualised cost of this is between £482m a year and £7bn a year, based on both NHS stats and research conducted by the Kings Fund. Patients were unable to be discharged due to various reasons such as the time taken to complete a care assessment, and lack of availability of information on essential services, leading to unnecessary and expensive bed blocking. Even on the Isle of Wight alone, there are around 50 patients per day who no longer meet the criteria to reside. In December 2023 and March 2024 there was a critical incident declared at St Mary’s Hospital in Newport, IoW, where excessive discharge delays caused patients occupying beds to delay urgent admissions to the hospital. Information needed by patients and carers to facilitate a discharge is hard to find, and involves extensive searching across diverse local and national information sources, at a time which is already stressful. This is how the FREE myra app helps to facilitate a smooth hospital discharge process, by providing a comprehensive information resource via a personalised feed designed to assist patients, carers, and hospital staff in co-ordinating care arrangements during and after discharge, and helping users to avoid re-admission. Kuradocs Ltd has been honoured to receive 2 separate grants from Innovate UK, for work carried out on both the myra app, and its partner product MyLiferaft, a digital health self-management tool for the 65+ population that promotes healthy ageing and independence due to launch in 2025. The Design Foundations award, received in 2022, was provided to enable Kuradocs Ltd to conduct human-centred research to understand perspectives of different stakeholders on MyLiferaft. Design Foundations is aimed at helping businesses engage with customers, users or wider stakeholders through early-stage, people and planet-centred design research to identify high-value innovation opportunities and generate more innovative products, services and business models. The second grant, the Innovate UK Award won in December 2023, is a two strand pilot competition that aims to empower today’s untapped innovators and businesses to increase investment in diverse talent across the UK. It aims to level the playing field and unlock potential for innovation by supporting and funding innovators from groups that are currently underrepresented or overlooked in innovation. This award was utilised to develop the myra app, after research led to the recognition of the particular need for a tool which would facilitate hospital discharge. Councillor Debbie Andre, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, said:
“The Isle of Wight Council is delighted to have supported MyLiferaft in producing the ‘myra’ App. It is easy to download, navigate, has a wealth of information, tips and support.
The app is/will be of great benefit here on the island due to the considerable amount of local information that will be available to residents to help them to make informed choices about their ongoing care following discharge from hospital.”
Won’t be able to magic up the staff needed in the community to facilitate discharge though, will it? An electronic signpost without a wheelchair in sight.
What about the folk who don’t have a Smartphone
You can wave goodbye to the social Work staff who properly assess people for ongoing care then. Pick your own, you’re more likely to have a magic wand
. Who’s going to use the app if someone hasn’t got a phone or is unable to use it? Oh, get a member of staff! Privatisation unfettered.
Worse than the ineffectiveness is the thought that current private NHS data will be uploaded into an app potentially accessible by anyone, anywhere in the world. Data protection? Oops. Then of course there’s the possibility of the links between parents, children, grandchildren in future years having their genetics trawled in order to deny medical care, should the NHS fail and private health insurance take its place. It’s already a thing in the US, as genetics can now identify risks for certain diseases. They are now called pre-existing diseases and so claims are rejected.