Long covid app may be rolled out in Buckinghamshire
After a successful trial in Salford, the app might soon be available in more areas for people with long covid
The long covid app is designed to help treat patients by getting them to complete assessments regularly at home. The hope is that it will soon be available in Buckinghamshire.
The aim of the app (C19-YRS) is to get patients to visualise their progress, and log the symptoms they are having so that clinicians can track the impact the condition is having on their day to day lives.
Digital health company Elaros has partnered with the University of Leeds to provide patients with necessary support.
Assessments go digital
Another one of the objectives is to remove the extra paperwork, and running the self-reporting mechanisms electronically is expected to be more straightforward for patients.
The information gathered will also contribute towards the wider understanding of long covid and help researchers improve treatments available.
Román Rocha Lawrence is the director of research and development at Elaros, and said that he is hoping that the app will at some point be made into a standalone version.
At the moment, patients can only access the app by visiting their local long covid clinic which can give them access. Lawrence said:
"We do recognise that this is probably disappointing for some as there are still thousands of patients at home struggling or suffering in silence with limited access to these tools, but that's our motivation to create a standalone version. But we're still working out how that's going to look."
Lawrence also noted that the initial launch will still benefit many sufferers across the country. He added:
"It's going to be beneficial for patients to complete assessments like this for long covid, but also for other conditions. The reason for this is, and we've seen throughout history that any paper tools are quite burdensome and people just don't take them seriously."