Business

20 Nov 08

The system runs on a mobile phone and can be linked to a peak flow meter for asthma (left) or blood glucose meter for diabetes (right).

A system using mobile phones will help thousands of people with chronic conditions such as diabetes and asthma monitor their own health and prevent hospital admissions: It was developed by Oxford engineers in collaboration with clinical colleagues.

The system, designed by t+ Medical, uses software that can be downloaded to a standard mobile phone handset. It has already been adopted by eight primary care trusts across the UK.

The software enables patients to easily send data – such as blood pressure, blood sugar levels or medication side effects – to a remote server that gives immediate feedback on their state of health. Algorithms running on the secure server analyse the data and prioritise patients for telehealth nurses to review and call on their mobile phone, whenever appropriate.

Professor Lionel Tarassenko of Oxford’s Department of Engineering Science, who led the team that developed the system, said: ‘In the UK there are over 17 million people with a chronic disease or long-term condition. Around 80 per cent of GP consultations relate to long-term conditions and patients with such conditions or their complications use over 60 per cent of hospital days. By keeping patients out of hospital telehealth systems like t+ Medical’s can improve patients’ quality of life and save the NHS millions.'

In the UK 12 million people – a fifth of the population – suffer from diabetes, hypertension, asthma or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. With Type 2 diabetes being the fastest growing disease in the Western world as a result of poor diet and obesity, the World Health Organisation has recently predicted that long-term conditions will be the leading cause of disability by 2020.

'Improving how patients can manage their own health, alongside giving them regular education and support, is seen as the best way of slowing the inexorable rise of healthcare spending on long-term conditions,’ said Professor Tarassenko. ‘Our system offers one way of delivering both this self-monitoring and support from health professionals.’

A version of the system is available to help patients monitor the side effects of cancer chemotherapy as well as systems for diabetes, asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.