August 10, 2025
In healthcare, few topics spark more debate—and concern—than nurse-to-patient ratios. It’s long been accepted that when clinicians are stretched too thin, patient safety suffers. But what if there was a way to modernise care delivery so that nurses could safely manage more patients, while actually improving outcomes?
That’s exactly what remote patient monitoring (RPM) platforms like Spritely make possible.
At first glance, the idea that a nurse could monitor more patients and still increase patient safety seems like a contradiction. But in practice, digitising key parts of the care journey creates visibility, efficiency, and proactivity that traditional care models simply cannot match. By shifting to a "digital-by-default" approach—especially for chronic conditions like heart failure—clinicians can focus their time where it matters most, without compromising quality or safety.
Traditionally, managing HF in the community relies on face-to-face appointments, hospital follow-ups, and sporadic self-reporting—an approach that’s time-consuming and reactive. With New Zealand’s heart failure nurse workforce already below the recommended 2–4 per 100,000 people, the current model is unsustainable.
Spritely enables nurses to monitor patients daily without leaving home. Vital signs—such as blood pressure, oxygen saturation, and weight—are automatically captured via connected devices, while symptom surveys are completed on a tablet. Alerts highlight only those needing attention that day, allowing clinicians to prioritise care where it’s most needed and see more patients without compromising safety.
In healthcare, safety depends not just on being close to patients, but on responding quickly when their condition changes—and this is exactly what Spritely enables.
Because nurses are alerted in real-time to any concerning changes, they can intervene early, before a patient’s condition deteriorates. There's no need to wait for the next appointment or rely on patients remembering to call if something feels off. Spritely makes every patient visible, every day.
In Hawke’s Bay, where Spritely has become part of standard care for heart failure patients, this model has helped achieve outstanding clinical results. 30-day hospital readmissions have fallen dramatically. Medication titration can be completed in weeks instead of months. And best of all, patients feel safer knowing their care team is keeping a digital eye on them.
The current health workforce is under immense pressure, and there's no silver bullet to rapidly grow its size. What we can do is empower clinicians with tools that let them operate at the top of their scope.
By filtering and prioritising patient needs, Spritely gives clinicians back valuable time. Instead of spending hours on administrative follow-ups or low-risk reviews, they can zero in on patients who need clinical decision-making. This is how we increase capacity safely—not by asking clinicians to do more hours, but by modernising care models with digital tools that increase efficiency. Spritely is already boosting capacity by making clinicians more productive.
One of the most powerful aspects of Spritely is that it meets patients where they are—literally. The device kits include a pre-configured tablet with built-in data, so there's no tech burden on the patient. No apps to download. No need to own a smartphone. This increases access, especially for priority populations.
And for nurses, it means a single dashboard view of everything they need to know: patient vitals, symptom surveys, message history, and notes—all in one place. It’s efficient, intuitive, and designed to complement clinical workflows, not disrupt them.
In New Zealand, heart failure affects more than 10% of people over the age of 70. It is also increasing among younger age groups. With an ageing population and shifting demographics, demand on heart failure services is set to grow sharply.
Meeting this challenge requires moving away from time-consuming and resource heavy in-person care models toward modern ones that are intelligent, adaptive, and patient-centred. Spritely enables that shift. By embedding remote patient monitoring into heart failure pathways, clinicians can track patients daily, respond earlier, and safely manage more people without compromising quality.
Now is the time to turn rising demand into an opportunity for smarter, safer, and more equitable care. If we implement digital-first models like Spritely our heart failure nurses will be able to sustainably meet the growing demand for their services long into the future.
