Predictive Health Intelligence (PHI) is a medical technical company, set up in partnership with the NHS. We have healthcare Information and IT experts making sure that our unique search engine is as effective and quick as it can be. We have clinical experts analysing blood test results to make sure we are targeting the right cohort of people. We have information governance experts ensuring that all data is kept safe and only used when it is in the best interest of the public to do so.
This is of course all to be expected, and no modern healthcare company could function in any other way.
But beneath it all, or overarching it all perhaps, is the benefit we can bring to patients. Without that driving force, our work is meaningless.
As the Communications Lead for the project, it’s best to keep me away from the complicated technical stuff and blood analysis…but I have the privilege of talking to members of the public and patients about what we do.
Recently I have been interviewing patients who have been recalled for a review of their liver health using the PHI product hepatoSIGHT. This is a simple tool that analyses blood tests going back over a number of years and allows a clinician to decide on a cohort of people who might benefit from a more detailed review.
I spoke to five people who had been written to and who have already come in to see the team, and it was a healthy reminder of why PHI was set up in the first place.
Having recounted her story, one patient said to me: “This is the way forward for the NHS”. When I asked why, she continued: “Finding people who might get ill and stopping it before it advances is the best thing to do. I am pleased to have been called in”.
Another commented “Although it was a bit of a shock, I’m glad that I got the letter. It was all done and dusted in less than a month and I’ve had excellent advice, treatment, and support.”
Another man was more blunt: “If I didn’t live in Somerset – and so wasn’t eligible for the PHI project – I’d be in a much worse state now”.
The same man had been ill for some time with no one able to diagnose or help him; until he met PHI. “I saw Dr Jobson very quickly and after various tests and an examination I was put on medication which will stop me developing serious liver disease.”
Another man who was called in had been quite ill last year and so was worried that the team might have found something else. But after meeting the team he said “I was happy to go in…everything was explained to me and I was glad to be included. I’ve learnt that they can find something that needs fixing and fix it, then that’s great”
I could write more (and probably will) but it was a real privilege for me to talk to these people, who PHI had directly helped.
The one overarching message they had? It can be summed up by Jim. “So please, if you get one of the PHI letters, go in and see the team. They will tell you what’s going on, if anything, and take action that will stop you from getting a serious disease.”