During the last century, life expectancy has risen rapidly as a consequence of various factors, including reductions in infant mortality, improved lifestyles and living standards, better education, and advances in healthcare and medicine. Just consider that in 1913, the average life expectancy at birth in Europe was 47 years. Today, the average life expectancy at birth in the EU-28 is 80.6 years.
“That is a huge achievement,” Ivan Bartolo, Chief Executive Officer, 6PM Group says. “However, it’s not just a question of living for more years, but also doing so in good health. And that carries a cost – can we afford to live longer?”
Bartolo founded 6PM in 1996 and formalised it as a company in 2001.
“Our collaboration with the National Health Service in the UK helped us gain health related skills and knowledge as well as develop a passion for health solutions. In 2010, I started rewriting the vision for the company and in 2011, we started our journey to transform ourselves from a service company to a products company.”
Today, 6PM is a leader in world class IT health solutions, namely hospital management solutions, clinical solutions, and electronic and mobile solutions.
“Our market is predominantly in the UK, where we offer solutions to 170 NHS Trust hospitals and clinics. Currently we are also working hard to establish a tangible presence in the Middle East, Canada, the US and Australia.
“We have a strong network of business partners. Our resellers can reach markets where we don’t enjoy a presence, while our strategic alliances already have systems at the NHS, with which we integrate to help improve patient outcome and reduce healthcare costs.
“We also involve clinicians in the development of our products. We do not have the skills or ability to become experts in clinical matters, and we don’t need to because that expertise is available. And that is why we collaborate with some of the best clinicians in the world. For instance, we developed our stroke solution with clinicians from the University College London Hospitals”
The health solutions developed by 6PM are targeted towards delivering an improved and better quality of life.
“Patient outcome can be positive or negative. In the first instance, a patient would return to a normal life. Yet if the outcome is negative, there is an associated healthcare cost for the patient, their family and society. What we want to achieve is an increase in the chances of a better outcome and make healthcare more affordable.
What we want to achieve is increase the chances of a better outcome and make healthcare more affordable
“Our approach is to put traditional processes on a digital platform. Our StrokePad solution, which was in clinical testing for two and a half years, is one example. Consider that when someone suffers a stroke, brain cells start dying at a very rapid rate and therefore time is of the essence. Someone who has just suffered a stroke is seen by different medical teams, who traditionally use time consuming, paper-based assessment tools. We have automated this process on to a tablet, with two main outcomes: we enforce the clinical path and enable different medical teams to assess and attend to the patient simultaneously. This saves time and potentially lives. StrokePad also allows clinicians to update the patient record at the bedside, therefore eliminating data errors immediately.”
Bartolo explains how the 6PM HIV solution was also developed along the same lines.
“Climate-HIV is an electronic care record system for HIV medicine developed for clinicians. In the UK, every HIV patient costs around €250,000 per annum to care for. Keeping in mind that there are around 100,000 HIV patients in the UK, this translates into a huge cost. Our aim is to reduce the cost of HIV care by putting patients on alternative medicine.
“We also offer a market leading solution for sexual health management. Sexually transmitted infections are a reality. It is also true that, for various reasons, those with a sexually transmitted infection prolong their visit to a clinic, which can lead to someone inadvertedly spreading the infection, as well as to complications such as infertility. We have placed the testing process on a digital platform in clinics which have been designed in a way that people feel comfortable visiting them. People visiting these clinics use a touchscreen to fill in a questionnaire – this eliminates the element of embarrassment and makes the process anonymous. We capture the data immediately and, if someone is diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection, they receive an SMS which links them to the appointments system.
“Our solution has led to an increase in testing. Moreover, it has helped reduce the appointment time for those opting for the traditional testing model. For instance, last September at 56 Dean Street, a sexual health and HIV clinic in London, we tested 8,900 people. In Malta, 8,400 people are tested every year. A simple comparison shows the level of transformation that this solution offers.”
Other solutions, such as file tracking and revenue leakage tracking, help make hospitals more operationally and financially efficient.
The Telecare service, which is also offered by 6PM, also helps reduce the burden on hospitals.
“We have 10,000 Telecare subscribers. The old Telecare service was largely limited to a panic button. The new service is built around the behaviour of a person. We have a mattress sensor, for instance, that alerts us if a patient has stopped moving during sleep. The system is also constantly sending information to the subscriber’s doctor and family. An elderly person would know that they are being constantly monitored and cared for and this gives them the confidence to continue living in their own home. This, in turn, reduces the waiting list for elderly homes.
“The same applies to patients who, following surgery, are kept in hospital to be monitored. You can monitor them remotely while they are recovering at home, thus freeing up hospital beds.
“All these solutions are transformational. Moreover, not only do they contribute to improving healthcare, but also make it more affordable.”