COPD is set to become the third leading cause of death worldwide by 2030. 

Affecting 1.2 million people in the UK, exacerbations of COPD are the second most common cause of emergency hospital admissions and account for one in eight of all UK hospital admissions.

The new project is funded by Innovate UK and supported by the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Safehaven, eHealth and the Department of Research & Development in a co-ordinated collaboration with StormID, KenSCI and ResMed.

The project will seek to reduce emergency hospital admissions among the highest risk COPD patients through remote monitoring and artificial intelligence-enabled preventative interventions. 

Using the latest technology the project aims to prevent at least one emergency hospital admission per year for each patient using the service.  The benefit to patients is that they can remain at home. 

If this project is successful and introduced across the UK to the highest risk COPD patients there could be a cost saving to the NHS across the UK. , The project will build on existing work already underway between NHSGGC, Storm ID and Digital Health Institute including 

  • A home remote-monitored non-invasive ventilation (NIV) pilot for COPD patients by NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde that has already demonstrated benefits including reducing hospital admissions. 
  • A Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) funded project between KenSci and NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde to develop a decision support algorithm for use in Emergency Departments to improve COPD care planning. 

Chris Carlin, NHSGGC consultant respiratory physician, said: “This funding award from Innovate UK is a very welcome recognition of the capabilities of the team in NHSGGC, the talents of our consortium partners and the positive results from the pilot work that we’ve undertaken.  

“COPD is one of our biggest global health challenges. We’re committed to delivering realistic medicine for our COPD patients. We’re excited by the opportunity to deliver our vision is for a digital infrastructure and suite of innovations which will enable early detection of potential COPD deteriorations in our highest risk patients.”

David Lowe, NHSGGC emergency consultant, said: “This unique collaboration will enable impactful digital health transformation for patients with debilitating lung disease. 

“Data driven re-orientation of health care delivery across the continuum of disease both in the community and hospital will reduce hospital admissions while improving quality of life for these patients. 

“Emergency Department attendance is the nadir of these patient’s long term condition but with enhanced monitoring and analytics the team will be able to intervene days before the ambulance is called. 

“Early warning of deterioration will enable our respiratory team to deliver the care they would receive in the ED at home improving patient outcomes whilst reducing demand on our overstretched Emergency Departments. 

“We are excited to deliver this project to our patients as an exemplar of service model redesign which can optimise care for patients suffering chronic disease.”   

 

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