Working with NHS Black Country ICB

EK’s Digital Health Station was originally developed in partnership with Sandwell and Birmingham CCG (now NHS Black Country ICB), who were seeking a scalable way to shift routine monitoring and structured data capture out of clinician appointments.

No existing product met their operational and clinical requirements. The brief was to create a flexible, practice-ready solution that would:

• Enable patient-initiated monitoring in the practice setting

• Integrate directly with clinical systems

• Adapt quickly to evolving QOF and service specifications

• Reduce repetitive data entry and appointment demand

An initial pilot at Broadway Health Centre focused on hypertension monitoring. Patients were invited via SMS to attend at their convenience for blood pressure checks, with approximately 75% choosing to use the station. Readings were coded directly into the patient record for clinician review.

Following the success of the pilot, additional structured pathways - including oral contraception reviews - were introduced, demonstrating the broader potential of digitally enabled, patient-initiated monitoring.

This collaboration formed the foundation of the Digital Health Station model now deployed across 500+ primary care sites. EK continues to work with NHS Black Country ICB to evaluate and refine the approach.