Irish-owned patient portal firm responds to urgent need to support GPs and primary care providers & their patients in the wake of COVID19
What Is the HSE COVID 19 Portal?
The HSE COVID19 Portal is a simple digital tool designed to optimise clinician and patient safety. This care-enabling technology supports clinicians to keep people well and treat those that are unwell, in the community where possible. Now, more than ever, its aim is also to protect those medical practitioners on the front-line offering care.
Available at www.hsecovid19.ie, Irish General Practitioners and primary care providers can set up an account in the portal to offer their patients secure online communications.
Core Features Include
- Online Booking
- Video Consultation Software (in app or via text or email)
- Secure Messaging
- Form Completion to assist in triaging
- Resource Sharing
- Payment Functionalities (e-Invoicing, payment in video-screen etc)
- e-Prescriptions (coming soon)
HSE Patient App
The patient experience of the portal is via an app, downloadable at the www.hsecovid19.ie website. An iOS and Android version is launching next week. Patients, once given access by their clinician, can download and log in to the app to manage all communication and share clinical information.
What are the potential benefits the HSE COVID 19 portal?
Mitigating Risk: The tool allows for triaging of patients before they attend a GP practice or hospital (e.g. form filling, online booking, video consultation features).
Remote Care Provision: caring for patients who are self-isolating (e.g. messaging, video, sharing resource features)
Maintaining Workforce/ Flexible Working: all data is hosted centrally in the cloud, so should clinicians (e.g. GPs or consultants etc.) be required self-isolate, they can still contribute to caring for patients remotely should they wish to.
Shared Care Record: all stakeholders (community based, primary care, GP, Hospitals etc.) could potentially access, track and securely share patient information for victims of COVID-19 via this single, central cloud-based system.
About Wellola
Recent winners of the IMSTA “Integrated Care Award”, Wellola has been backed and funded by the European Institute of Technology and Innovation and Enterprise Ireland. The leadership team on this project consisted of Sonia Neary, Tiago Coimbra, Criostóir O’Codlatáin Lacthna and Lukas Hambüchen.
“We’re really passionate about providing healthcare providers with the tools to deliver professional healthcare anywhere. Online consultation systems in both the public and private sector assists in maximising available resources, retaining or re-engaging talented staff, facilitate triaging of waiting lists and increasing reach to remote, underserviced areas,” said Sonia Neary, company CEO.
Based at the Guinness Enterprise Centre in Dublin, Wellola has collaborated with other Irish-based entities- Stripe, DNM Group and AWS Ireland to enhance the functionality, security and local hosting of its system.
About the HSE Digital Transformation Team
Established in early 2019 and led by Martin Curley, the HSE Digital Transformation team is a division of the HSE Office of the CIO and actively supports disruptive Digital Health technologies to enable better patient, staff and system efficiency. The team have a simple vision: “to unleash the digital capability of the HSE and associated ecosystem to drive breakthrough improvements in health service efficiency, effectiveness and experience”.
Dr. Martin Curley said “We are thankful and pleased to partner with Sonia Neary and Wellola in providing a video consultation solutions for GPs which will be a key tool in providing remote care and a critical tool in helping avoid further contagion of COVID 19. We encourage GP’s and other healthcare providers to access and use this service which is provided at cost. More details at www.hsedigitaltransformation.ie “
