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The digital urinary tract infection (UTI) pathway was a demonstrator project trialled for a six month period across a number of pharmacies in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.
The pathway used a digital UTI test, which combines a standard dipstick urine test with an app that turns any smartphone camera into a clinical grade medical device. In this trial pathway, participating pharmacies used the results of the test to either rule out a UTI or, if the patient’s result was positive, the patient was able to receive antibiotics, without a GP appointment.
An estimated 50% of women report having had a UTI at some point in their lives and suspected UTIs account for up to 3% of all GP visits.
NICE guidelines assume women are able to access medical care swiftly when they have symptoms — but in many parts of the UK this is not the case. Figures from NHS Digital, published in the British Medical Journal in 2018, showed that only two out of five appointments (40%) take place on the day they are booked – and one in five patients waits two weeks for a GP appointment. Therefore women may be suffering from UTI related symptoms for longer than necessary.
Dip UTI is a clinically proven home-use kit developed by Healthy.io who are part of the national NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA).
Dip UTI combines the standard dipstick urine test with an app that turns any smartphone camera into a clinical grade medical device.
Using the results of the test, the pharmacies were able to either rule out a UTI or if the patient’s result was positive the patient was able to receive antibiotics, without the need for a GP appointment.
Click here to access the report titled Evaluation of the treatment of adult women under 65 years presenting with symptoms of uncomplicated urinary tract infections in community pharmacies using home-based urinalysis testing.
Results of the evaluation suggested that: