Faisal Abbasi

Faisal Abbasi

Please note this page was last updated in 2019. Visit Faisal’s LinkedIn profile for more information.


Faisal is a Gastroenterology SpR Medical Information Officer at North Middlesex University Hospital. He studied medicine at Bart’s and the London, graduating in 2013.

Since the start of his career Faisal has been involved in digital transformation, creating a mobile app to guide patient management at his first NHS Trust. He is driven by improving patient care and sees technology as a way to enable this, rather than replace clinicians. His main focus this year is to develop a remote monitoring service for patients, a key area in the NHS long term plan.


Digital Pioneer Fellowship project: A remote, app-based monitoring system for IBD

Problem: The current problem in our local Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) outpatient service is of clinic capacity. Clinics are currently running over capacity, and many patients who are stable are being seen (in line with national guidance), whilst a significant proportion of patients having a flare in the community are waiting weeks for an urgent appointment. This problem has been seen on a national scale in the NHS in management of all chronic diseases.

Solution: The solution is to transfer stable patients (using validated criteria) to a remote, app-based monitoring system. This has the dual benefit of reducing unnecessary appointments for well patients, whilst freeing up clinic capacity for patients requiring an urgent appointment.

Scale of the project: This project is being piloted at one site, within a 3000 IBD patient cohort. Following a successful pilot it will be introduced into the sister site in the Trust and opened up to other disease areas, starting with viral hepatitis clinics where there is already great potential and support for expansion.

Desired impact: The desired impact is to create a remote monitoring service for stable patients, whilst allowing immediate clinician access to patients with an acute exacerbation.

Progress to date: The Fellowship has given the project some life and validation, shifting the perception from it just being a junior doctor with an idea, to something which was being supported by DH.L. This opened up more doors. The Fellowship encouraged Faisal to take the project back a step, to think about how something like this can work and to make sure patients wanted this, which he managed via patient feedback.

The project is not progressing in the same form now, as Faisal has moved to a new Trust – North Middlesex as part of his rotation, and due to circumstances beyond control at his old Trust. At the time of leaving his old Trust, the team had finished the feasibility phase of the project with 100 patients onboarded, who had been taken out of the clinic, thus opening up capacity. Outcomes achieved from the 100 patients include:

  • Prevented the need for 70% to come to an Outpatient appointment
  • 60% of those didn’t want to come anyway
  • Reduced CO2 and emissions costs