As the NHS prepares for a £4bn web-based system, we test out ten apps that can help diagnose illnesses, deal with emergency first aid and check sight and hearing
Dr Keith Hopcroft reviews new gadgets that profess to help your health and rates them out of five
WITH GPs oversubscribed and some patients having to wait weeks for an appointment, have you thought about using your smartphone to diagnose a possible illness?
From next year, that is how we could access the NHS – with a web-based triage system costing the health service £4billion being rolled out.
After entering details of their symptoms online, patients will receive a reply with advice from a 111 worker or a call from a medical professional.
But it is not just the NHS helping us diagnose health problems on phones. There are hundreds of apps and websites that claim to diagnose and treat. But how reliable are they?
Essex-based GP DR KEITH HOPCROFT said: “Some sites and apps can help reassure you or confirm you have a medical issue. It is possible to see a doc online these days – but apps and sites are not always a substitute for consulting a doctor face-to-face.”
Here, Dr Keith reviews ten of those available – rating them out of five – while CLARE O’REILLY meets two readers who have been diagnosed by their phones.
Rapid Diagnosis
iOS and Android, free
Keith says: “Rapid is certainly the word here. You can get a diagnosis of OCD after just two questions and a label of bipolar after four questions. Proper psychiatric diagnosis needs rather more than this. Once you have your self-diagnosis, you get lots of detail, though most of it seems to be aimed at doctors rather than patients.”
BHF Pocket CPR
iOS and Android, free
Keith says: "You get Vinnie Jones plus a 'mini Vinnie' explaining how to perform CPR. Your phone also gives you feedback on how you are doing - telling you to push harder, go slower and so on. The problem is, you will waste precious seconds opening the app, while holding the phone gets in the way of doing CPR.
Emergency First Aid
iOS (£1.49) and Android (89p)
Keith says: "This is essentially a first aid textbook on an app. It covers just about every emergency you could care to mention, ranging from nosebleeds all the way to childbirth. The information is fine, if a little dry in how it is presented. There are few gadgety bits apart from a CPR counter and some videos to watch.”
'One more day may have been fatal'
RECRUITMENT trainer Jane Pettit, 38, from Doncaster, used her phone to diagnose three separate conditions in her daughters Molly, ten, and Libby Sue, six.
While she had some success, a missed diagnosis could have been fatal for Molly. She says:
Using my phone led me to a false diagnosis that could have had severe consequences for Molly after she started wetting the bed, aged six.
My phone told me she was anxious and it would go away in time. A while later, she had the symptoms of a water infection. She was constantly thirsty and often grumpy.
Tests revealed she had Type 1 diabetes and was only days away from her body shutting down. Now she has to inject insulin for the rest of her life.
Using the internet or your phone can be reassuring as a parent but in no way should it ever be used instead of professional medical help. Molly is lucky that we got the GP appointment that we did – one more day could have been fatal for her.
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Diagnosis and Therapy
iOS, free Keith says: "This app offers a somewhat less than comprehensive A-Z list of broad medication topics plus a random selection of tests you can do. Click on whjatever subject you fancy and you will get a brief summary. It is likely to leave you still scratching your head and wanting rather more in the way of information.
Psycho Diagnose
iOS, free
Keith says: “This quiz-style self-diagnosis app aims to work out what is troubling your mental health. The categories of diagnosis are odd, while the language reads like it has been translated badly from some foreign tongue. And the advice always seems to be that you should, ‘Find something to occupy your mind’. But not this.”
LOSER
Hearing Check
iOS, free
Keith says: "The charity Action On Hearing Loss provides this app which take you through a very simple hearing test, one for each ear. The end result is either reassurance if you pass the test or, if not, some advice to get a proper hearing test. Like all the best apps, this is useful, specific and relevant.
Rating: 4.5/5
WINNER
BMI Tracker
iOS, free
Keith says: "This clear and simple app will analyse your weight and your height to categorise you as being of normal weight, overweight, obese and so on. It gives you feedback and advice while also helping you set goals and tracks your progress. This app is very much 'no frills' but it does what it says on the low-fat biscuit tin.
'I made flight after airport GP chat'
DRIVER George Richardson, 24, from Manchester, was able to diagnose and medicate his tonsillitis using his phone.
He says: I’ve had tonsillitis in the past but this summer I was at Heathrow Airport when I felt the familiar sensation of a sore throat and difficulty swallowing.
With a flight to Asia leaving imminently, a trip to the GP wasn’t an option.
I had heard of online doctors’ appointments through friends, so with my gate announcement sounding, I downloaded the Push Doctor app.
Letting the illness take its course wasn’t an option and I knew I needed medication and quickly. Minutes later, a GP was examining my throat as I used the camera on my phone to show him my inflamed tonsils.
I’d also been able to fill him in on my medical history.
Within minutes, he had confirmed the diagnosis and was able to send a prescription for medication to the pharmacy in the terminal.
I managed to get the prescription and board my flight just as the gate was closing.
Itriage
iOS and Android, free
Keith says: “Indicate where your trouble is, then you get a list of possible symptoms. Pick one and a huge list of causes follows which you can filter. It won’t point you much in the direction of your specific diagnosis but it contains enough information to keep the average hypochondriac entertained for weeks.”
Skin Vision
iOS and Android, free
Keith says: "Convert your smartphone camera into a skin cancer-hunting magic eye. Impressive-looking, fun and easy to use. But three of the four definitely benign (at least I hope so) skin lesions I tested it on were ranked 'high risk', so there's a good chance this could turn you neurotic. Especially if you set the reminders to prompt you to check again."
Vision Test
iOS and Android, free
Keith says: "Slick, neat and very easy to use. It tests eyesight, astigmatism, focusing problems and colour blindness, plus it gives general advice eye health. Though the impression I get is if you don't score 100 per cent for everything, you're directed to an optician. And if you are worried enough to try this app, you should be going anyway."