Landmark digital health partnerships set to transform outcomes for patients with Chronic Kidney Disease   

Patient learning specialists Cognitant have announced two landmark partnerships that will give patients with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) access to bespoke digital learning content. 

Clinicians can now easily share validated, interactive education materials from Cognitant’s Healthinote CKD library to patients via SMS (text), embedded videos and via the NHS App.

This has been made possible following end-to-end integrations with fellow leading patient engagement and information platforms: DrDoctor and Patients Know Best. 

A patient education puzzle

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) affects more than 1.8 million people in the UK. The condition – and the treatment options – are complex and vary significantly between individual cases. Because of short appointment times, low health literacy and language barriers, CKD patients and their families often struggle with limited understanding of the condition.

61% of England’s working-age population find health information difficult to understand, and studies have found that 40% to 80% of the information given during appointments is forgotten immediately.

This reduces adherence to treatment and healthy behaviours, and prevents shared decision making about care, all of which have been recognised as necessary to improve CKD outcomes following research from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Healthcare organisations currently deploy considerable human and system resources to delivery of education to CKD patients, whilst at the same time seeing these patients requiring care for avoidable complications.

Industry collaborators close the information gap

To provide much-needed education resources for clinicians to share with patients, Cognitant worked with Royal Berkshire NHS Trust (RBH) and others to co-create customisable learning content for the CKD community. Named ‘Kidney Essentials: CKD’, the full education content is hosted on their Healthinote platform. 

Following the DrDoctor and Patients Know Best partnerships, it’s now significantly easier and faster for clinicians to share Kidney Essentials: CKD modules with patients and their families: as part of their hospital’s regular SMS or email communication, alongside other key information shared online, and as part of their personal health record (PKB).

The content can be accessed on a smartphone or as a print-out, and has been translated into Polish, Urdu, Punjabi and Nepalese. 

Owing to Patient Know Best’s integration with the NHS App, this information is not only available on any internet-enabled device, but also for patients using the NHS App in other regions (if their care provider chooses to switch the integration on for their patients).  

A significant moment for CKD patients and care teams

Kidney Essentials: CKD educates patients about self-management and shared decision making, ultimately improving health outcomes and quality of life while releasing capacity for healthcare providers.

Plans are underway for Cognitant to launch additional information-sharing partnerships, in order that patients with other chronic and acute conditions be supported in the same way.

Dr Emma Vaux OBE, Medical Associate Director of Patient Safety and Consultant nephrologist, Royal Berkshire Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: 

“As a doctor who worked in the NHS for 20 years, I can confirm that we are experiencing some of the most intense pressures we have ever seen, at all points in the system.

“It’s essential that we look to embrace new, tech-enabled solutions and collaborations to tackle the root causes of these pressures. By equipping patients with learning resources that have been created with their unique needs in mind, clinicians are able to deliver maximum value to patients during every appointment and, where possible, reduce the number of necessary hospital visits.

“I appreciate this collaboration between Cognitant, DrDoctor and Patients Know Best that is making it possible to share our valuable support tool with patients when they need it most.’”

Dr Tim Ringrose, co-founder and CEO of Cognitant, said:

“The launch of Cognitant’s partnerships with DrDoctor and Patients Know Best is a huge step forward in our mission to empower patients with accessible and trustworthy information about their health and treatment. 

“These partnerships are proving to be a best-in-class solution for information sharing with patients, ensuring that critical information for a patient’s understanding and management of their condition, is seamlessly shared with them at the right time along their care path. 

“It’s widely acknowledged that being engaged in self-care and shared decision making is crucial to improving outcomes for patients and reducing their reliance on health services.

“This modernised digital service offering aligns with the NHS Long Term Plan, with wide applicability and potential to improve both health and quality of life for people with chronic kidney disease.”

Ross Farmer, Commercial Director of DrDoctor, said:  

“DrDoctor’s strategic partnerships, such as this one with Cognitant, are crucial in linking together innovative tech which creates a seamless patient experience that both informs and empowers the patient.

This exciting work is essential for managing the increasing burden of long-term conditions while creating a generally more activated population who are greater equipped to self-manage pre- and post-intervention.”

Sally Rennison, CCO of Patients Know Best, said:  

“Patients Know Best’s mission is to get as much data into the hands of patients as possible, to empower them and give them the greatest chance to understand and manage their health and wellbeing.

“This mission relies on important partnerships – a partnership between healthcare providers and patients to shift the dynamic of care, a partnership between healthcare providers and industry to use technology to enable this where appropriate, and a partnership between different suppliers, to give patients the best possible access to information. 

“This programme really demonstrates the simple changes we can make when bringing like minded organisations together, to deliver meaningful change and solutions to a patients experience. I look forward to this partnership growing to support more patients, in more regions with different conditions”. 

ENDS

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