New technologies to improve quality of life
A team of Sheffield researchers, led by Professors Gail Mountain and Mark Hawley, are developing assistive technologies to enable people with long-term conditions, such as stroke, chronic pain and heart failure, to improve their health and quality of life.
Long-term conditions normally cause a deterioration in health which eventually leads to hospitalisation. In light of this, the goal of the research is to enable people to manage their condition, thereby improving their health and quality of life, whilst also reducing the economic burden on the health system.
According to the Department of Health there are 15.4 million people living with a long-term condition in England, and this number is expected to rise due to an ageing population and unhealthy lifestyle choices. Long-term conditions also account for 70% of the NHS budget. With the UK population ageing, it is feared that the cost to the healthcare system will rise to unsustainable levels.
To address this, the Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies (RAT) group at the University of Sheffield are developing a series of 'telecare' technologies to help people manage their long-term health conditions. People with long-term health conditions can be locked in a cycle of frequent hospital admission due to exacerbations of their illness, even though much of this is avoidable with effective and timely interventions, as Professor Gail Mountain explains:
"Self management is key to avoiding this negative cycle, thereby improving the health and quality of life for people with long term conditions. Computer-based technology has significant potential to help patients to change their behaviour and lifestyle in ways necessary for successful self management. To encourage people to do this, we are developing user-led self-management devices to be informative, engaging and persuasive but, above all, personalised to meet the specific requirements of the individual".
One telecare technology currently being developed by the EPSRC SMART Consortium, which is led by Professor Mountain and Professor Hawley, is a Personalised Self Management System for people with stroke, chronic pain or congestive heart failure. Researchers from many disciplines, including informatics, engineering, medical physics, user-centred design, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and psychology, have worked to create user-centred designs for technology, which has resulted in a prototype Personalised Self Management system. Key to the system is the home-hub, a touch-screen computer that links up to a hand-held monitor which records the activity of the user. Information about their activity is relayed to the home-hub, which allows them to monitor and manage their condition. This information will also be accessed remotely by health care practitioners as part of further prototype development.
Professor Mark Hawley: "The device enables the user to check their current health status and provides a reminder of the agreed planned activities, facilitates the undertaking of planned activities and provides feedback on progress. We have also adapted the device for each chronic condition. For example, we have incorporated weighing scales and a blood pressure monitor for people with congestive heart failure, and for those suffering with chronic pain there will be enhanced GPS capabilities to provide an accurate record of distance walked".
As well as the University of Sheffield, the SMART Consortiun also includes the Universities of Bath, Ulster, Newcastle and Sheffield Hallam. The Consortium is working closely with a range of stakeholders including user advocacy organisations (the Stroke Association, the British Heart Foundation), healthcare providers and representatives from the Department of Health and industry, with the aim of ensuring maximum impact.
For further information, please contact Professor Mark Hawley at:
email : mark.hawley@sheffield.ac.uk
or Professor Gail Mountain:
email : g.a.mountain@sheffield.ac.uk