A DIGITAL link between NHS clinicians and patients with back pain has seen thousands of North-East residents benefit from a hospital-developed project.

The scheme has seen clinicians receive real-time feedback from thousands of people suffering from the debilitating condition, enabling the NHS to identify interventions that are working locally and then to provide the most effective care across the country.

The North of England Regional Back Pain Programme monitors 3,600 people who have been referred for treatment from family GPs to the James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough.

Specialists overseeing the project input medical details into NHS patient databases capable of holding vast amounts of information, following an overhaul from digital development company, Inhealthcare.

Darlington Clinical Commissioning Group contracted the Harrogate-based company to provide computer systems capable of holding the information – allowing clinicians to analyse data quickly.

Richard Quine, product director at Inhealthcare, said: “Back pain is one of the highest volume activities in the NHS. It absolutely lends itself to digital health.

“In addition, this technology saves clinicians from having to collect and transcribe information by hand and then study themselves, which is time consuming and costly.

“Instead, our digital service can rapidly gather and analyse data to identify trends and accurately inform best practice and reduce hospital admissions.”

The project was launched after specialists noted NHS treatment plans – known as “care pathways” – for lower back pain are often unplanned and prone to length delays. However, as part of the James Cook University Hospital-developed project, thousands of patients with back pain are sent a clinical questionnaire after being referred from a GP and throughout their treatment.

Their responses are fed back to the NHS via Inhealthcare technology, automatically updating patient records and highlighting individual needs.

Mr Quine added: “We believe this service has the potential to dramatically improve the wellbeing of patients with back pain across the UK and help the NHS to target its resources in a much smarter way.”