A high-tech, mobile health clinic, 'Find and Treat' is being used to improve screening, testing and treatment of around 10,000 vulnerable, homeless and high-risk people in London every year.
The Find and Treat van, deployed from University College London Hospitals (UCLH), is part of NHS Digital’s Future Wireless Project Trials. It aims to tackle a wide range of infectious and chronic diseases by screening, diagnosing, and treating conditions, such as tuberculosis, COVID-19, Hepatitis B and C, HIV, cardiovascular issues, STIs and Flu.
The Find and Treat service was recently fitted with a range of high-tech tools and software to enable real-time remote diagnosis and referrals on board the mobile health unit. Technology includes a digital portable X-ray camera, artificial intelligence software, a tele-radiology network to allow remote reading of X-rays using the trials flat-pack satellites, 4G and 5G routers, roaming SIM cards and smart antenna systems.
Other trials included in NHS Digital’s Future Wireless Project Trials are aimed at improving connectivity in remote areas - with emerging wireless technologies, such as 5G and Low Earth Orbit satellites (which improve signal strength and allow for faster message transmission) - being used by remote healthcare workers in digitally isolated health centres to improve care. Another trial is investigating the benefits of a faster and more reliable 5G network in hospitals, with virtual reality, augmented reality and electronic observation technologies all featuring.
Patrick Clark, NHS Digital’s Director of Infrastructure Services, says: “We want technology to be used to help make healthcare accessible for everyone and reliable, high-speed connectivity is vital to enabling that. The multiple wireless connectivity options on board UCLH’s high-tech Find and Treat mobile unit are enabling sophisticated digital solutions to be used to help vulnerable patients get diagnoses quickly and easily without needing to visit a hospital. We’ll be monitoring the impact of the Find and Treat scheme in London and considering how such initiatives might be successfully adopted elsewhere to reach those least able to access healthcare.”
Find and Treat’s team of peer workers, who have lived experience of homelessness, help build trust and understanding with a patient group suffering from diseases of poverty and inequality. During the pandemic, the Find and Treat team also provided COVID-19 testing and vaccinations to people experiencing homelessness.
NHS Director for Health Inequalities Dr Bola Owolabi says: “The pandemic shone a light on health inequalities across society and tackling these inequalities is a top priority for the NHS. This is a fantastic on the ground initiative led by the NHS which will help thousands of the most vulnerable get the care they need.”
