Spritely’s RPM platform is evaluated by Te Whatu Ora and proves ideal for older patients

Following a successful pilot of Spritely’s remote patient monitoring (RPM) platform at Waitemata Hospital, Te Whatu Ora has published its evaluation, which recommends scaling the program up. Among other things the report highlights that Spritely “demonstrated excellent design, proving user-friendly for elderly or less technologically savvy patients”.

Spritely is a New Zealand-based technology company that has carved out a niche for itself by taking an equity-led approach to RPM and co-designing the platform with older people. The system has proved to be ideal for older people and other priority populations including Maori and Pasifika, those living in rural areas, and people in financial hardship. 

Spritely founder & CEO Christopher Dawson is thrilled to see the platform make such a breakthrough. “Until recently nearly everyone we spoke to thought RPM was too hard for older people. They thought the burden of technology for these patients would undermine any gains in efficiency that RPM could deliver, and clinicians would need to spend a lot of time helping patients understand the technology. We now know that this is simply not true.”

Referring to the recent evaluation, Dawson says, “It’s time to abandon the assumption that RPM is not for older people and start thinking about how much space hospitals can save, how much time clinical teams can gain, and how much patients health can be improved by getting more older people out of hospital sooner and monitored at home.”

RPM can minimise the length of stay and reduce readmissions for older people, but Dawson says, “you can’t just send them home with an Apple Watch or an iPhone and expect everything to be ok.”

The Spritely team has invested considerable time in understanding the impediments to RPM for older people and the clinical teams that support them. Over the last two years, the company has been systematically removing them.

The Spritely platform, which is used by multiple health providers, is highly configurable and this makes it possible to extend many different hospital and community led services into people’s homes.

For more information, please visit the Spritely website www.spritely.co.nz