The Medical Apps and their problems

Work in progress ... Medical Apps Part 2

The main use for my phone is monitoring my medical matters. I don't tend to use it during the day, except to track my exercising. When I'm out on a walk I check messages and emails but even the SMS messages tend to get handled from the desktop computer. Of cause the first problem with that is that the 'step count' does not get updated while it's sitting on the wireless charger in the bedroom.

There are several apps, all competing to gather my data, and I have to move stuff from on to another manually for some tasks, but others do talk between one another. The morning exercise is blood pressure and other readings, and this is achieved with 4 Bluetooth devices that cover one or more readings. All the devices are from Lidl and made by SilverCrest and talk to the HealthForYou app. Pulse rate and oxygen level via an SP055, temperature an SFT81, blood pressure the SBM70 and finally weight on an SBF77 which also monitors water and fat levels most of the time. The main problem is while I do have several months data now, getting the app to connect to each device is not reliable. This morning while the My Devices page shows that the SBM70 has connected, it has not updated that on the home page, even after an additional manual download. The other devices are much the same story. As long as the phone is sitting on the My Devices page in the app, then on the main the readings are transferred when each device is used ... except for the scales which one always has to connect manually, and that despite the app continually prompting that the data on it and in the app don't match ... and selecting one or other to update does nothing. That and it keeping asking me to rate it in the app store which has a 1 star rating is it has had since the early days. NO response to complaints, but isn't that about standard for phone apps? Things could be a lot easier, but with the time it takes for the blood pressure readings on has time to get around the niggles.

I do have a watch which is supposed to give me 'steps' and my sleeping pattern, but that never worked and while I've never actually worn a watch anyway, putting up with in on my wrist would only be worth it if it actually worked? While it was listed at £100, I only paid less that £30 and the supplier has refunded that to get the poor review taken down! Another irritation on the likes of Amazon and eBay ... not telling the truth in listings. I would like a better record of my sleep pattern but the watch never provided anything reliable and ditching it kicked off another app.

I've a suite of 7 apps running currently although the NHS app and the Food Scanner don't get used much. The NHS app still tells me I am on the waiting list for Cardiology and they have already asked twice now if I want to stay on the list, except I HAD the Echocardiogram at the end of last year. NOW I am waiting on the results. While the XRay appointment appeared in the app, the Echo was only handled via a letter. Need ALL of this joined up.

This leaves the NHS Weightloss and Active10 apps along with one supplied by the physio for my 'exercise plan' which is next to useless and I get different data from the Samsung Health app over Active10 as to the times and distances, and then I have to decide just what to copy to WeightLoss and HealthForYou to stop them nannying me. A lot more to expand on at some point, but I need to shut the Physio app up by exercising, and then get out for my '20 minutes Brisk Walk' ... More later.