FUNDS of £70,000 have been given to benefit patients with haemophilia, to enable them to access medical advice via smartphones.

The Southern Haemophilia Network, hosted by Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust at Basingstoke hospital, has been awarded the money from a pot of £2.5million, to help change patients’ lives and improve care through innovation. The bid for equipment to help improve haemophilia patients’ experience was one of 46 winners, chosen out of 600 that applied for money from the Innovation Fund.

The money will be invested in new technology so haemophilia patients can access medical advice using a smartphone or home computer, rather than having to travel to hospital for routine and quick appointments.

Doctors and nurses will also be able to use the technology whilst visiting patients in the community, to seek advice from colleagues back at the centre.

Katie Bolam, operational manager, said: “Haemophilia is a lifelong illness and we find most patients are very experienced and therefore good at managing their condition. Our patients told us that it would make their lives much easier if they could access advice without having to always come to the hospital.”

Southern haemophilia network director, Dr Savita Rangarajan added: “The new telemedicine service will also allow us to join up with other clinical experts to seek their advice and hold multi-disciplinary meetings where several experts come together to decide on the treatment plan for certain patients.”

The telemedicine service will also help reduce the number of outpatients, and reduce travel costs, which are often funded by the NHS.

The NHS is hoping to roll-out this service to all haemophilia patients in the UK, following the success of the project at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

The trust, which runs Basingstoke hospital, hopes to use the technology to help other patients with long-term conditions such as other blood disorders or arthritis.

The winners of NHS England’s Regional Innovation Fund were announced this week by NHS England’s chief executive, Simon Stevens, at the Managers in Partnership Conference 2014.

He said: “Once again frontline clinicians and NHS managers are proving that – given the chance – the NHS can be one of the most innovative health services in the world.”