PATIENTS will be able to track their health and medical notes through an innovative program currently vying for start-up money.

The app, MyNotes Medical, has been designed to help patients keep track of meetings with their doctor, symptoms and other appointments.

Borehamwood resident Joanna Slater co-founded the app after seeing her mother struggle to keep up with the notes and day-to-day occurrences of her own treatment before her death in 2008.

Ms Slater said: “My mother went into hospital in 2007 for a hip surgery and things were hard to keep track of so I started taking notes. She died in hospital six months later.”

“It’s hard to remember everything and it was then that I realised the importance of taking notes.”

She said many patients struggled to keep track of their handwritten notes or could forget when a meeting occurred – something which she hoped MyNotes Medical would help to avoid.

Working with business partner Brad Meyer, Ms Slater said the team was almost finished with the first prototype of the app.

She said the program was the first of its kind to combine the different aspects of medical notes and information together – even providing templates for letters to doctors.

Ms Slater added: “Communication is key when it comes to hospitals and treatment and as far as we know, there’s nothing like this that comes under one program like this idea.”

Ms Slater said she was passionate about helping people keep on top of their treatment and wanted to help doctors and patients, from the elderly to children and carers, alike.

She said: “We have great feedback from people who want to take control.”

“This would be a positive way of helping people to document all their healthcare issues and it would also help the NHS by cutting down on unnecessary visits and medical mistakes.”

But the app is competing for the attention of Richard Branson in the entrepreneur’s Voom 2016 competition, which will see the 60 ideas with the most votes go to the next round.

Ms Slater called on anyone interested to support her idea and vote, with the idea needing more support before the May 23 cut off.

https://www.vmbvoom.com/pitches/mynotes-medical