The Cheshire and Merseyside elective recovery team has been piloting a digital app, Sapien, that supports patients preparing for their surgery, and for up to four weeks afterwards. The service provides access to virtual and in-person support covering areas of health and wellbeing, including exercise, healthy eating, sleep, and mental wellbeing.

A risk stratification tool is used to identify patients at risk of complications that can potentially be reduced through this kind of support. Patients who take part in surgical preparation programs like Sapien have been shown to have a lower risk of complications and can return to normal activities sooner after their surgery.

Once identified these patients are contacted via text message by Sapien to go through the offer with patients who can decide if this approach is for them. If the patient feels this is suitable for them Sapien Health support them with the sign-up process and provide the digital app.

Those that sign up will get access to:

• 1-on-1 health coaching from a professional coach to empower and support people on their surgical journey.
• A personalised programme that is created for each individual based on their health goals – diet, activity, sleep, alcohol moderation, and more.
• On demand content that includes bite-sized lessons, exercise videos, mindfulness techniques, meal plans, and more to help strengthen body and mind.
• Insightful health metrics that will uncover actionable insights and get coach feedback by tracking sleep, activity, steps and other health metrics.

St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospital NHS Trust are the first to trial the service, and are focussing on patients that have a date for surgery and are at potentially higher risk of chest infection complication as flagged by their risk stratification tool. As part of the programme Sapien Health will provide spirometers as part of the breathing exercises and health coaching to try and reduce the risk of the infections and improve the recovery for those patients. This work is being evaluated by the Academic Health Sciences team to review the impact.