We are working in collaboration with NHS England on a new Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) Digital Pathway Demonstrator. The demonstrator will enable women who suspect they have a UTI to access fast-track testing and treatment without seeing a GP.

 The pilot will be offered through the Pharmacy First Scheme. 38 pharmacies are part of the scheme, which enables people to access treatment from their pharmacy sooner.

Participating pharmacies will offer women a free Dip UTI test – a clinically proven home-use kit developed by Healthy.io. Dip UTI combines the standard dipstick urine test used by GPs with an app that turns any smartphone camera into a clinical grade medical device.

As suspected UTIs account for up to 3% of all GP visits, this demonstrator aims to speed up access to treatment and make the process easier for patients. It is also hoped that this pathway will reduce unnecessary antibiotics.

Trialing this pathway also aligns with objectives set out in the NHS Long Term Plan, which emphasises a commitment to improve community healthcare by making necessary adjustments within primary care – in this example this makes greater use of pharmacists’ skills and in turn could have a huge impact on costs and patient experience by reducing GP appointments.

The East Midlands Academic Health Science Network (EMAHSN) is funding the test kits as part of the pilot study and supporting with evaluation of the project. More funding is being offered by Healthy.io and NHS England to deliver training to pharmacists and to cover their consultation fees.

The demonstrator is expected to last four months and following this pilot we will be working to evaluate the benefits and impacts of this pathway, in order to understand if the approach could be spread across the county to produce efficiencies and save NHS.