UNIVERSITY Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust has launched a new digital support tool that can help patients hit health goals and achieve weight loss.
W8Buddy has been developed for NHS Tier three weight management services, which represents the specialist obesity service comprising dietitians, specialist doctors, psychologists and surgeons.
The platform can be accessed through phones or desktops, providing users with a personalised weight management plan.
The plan will help people develop the attitudes, knowledge and skills to self-manage their health.
It is available in 12 languages and each person’s experience is tailored to their goal, disease profile, ethnicity, age, gender and location.
The project was led by Dr Petra Hanson, National Institute for Health Research Clinical Lecturer in Diabetes and Endocrinology.
She said: “This is an incredibly exciting innovation that will transform the way we deliver care.
“W8Buddy was not only inspired by our patients but also co-created with our patients alongside the clinical team in a truly unique collaboration.
“We hope this new digital support tool empowers our patients and leads to meaningful health improvements.”
The tools’ key features include education, behavioural change activities and resources and meal and exercise logging, and it features a dashboard clinicians can access to assess progress in real-time.
