Home monitoring specialists Entia has partnered with Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust to deploy monitoring technology to patients with chronic kidney disease who are currently shielding.
Since lockdown measures were put in place at the beginning of March, people living with conditions such as chronic kidney disease have had to minimise routine but necessary testing, due to their vulnerability to COVID-19. This means healthcare professionals have had less available information to monitor their patients, important for making optimal treatment decisions and avoiding harm from treatments. If conditions are not monitored as closely in the long-term there is also an increasing risk of poorer health outcomes.
Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has partnered with Entia, to deliver 50 home monitoring solutions to vulnerable patients within the area. These devices allow patients with chronic kidney disease living with anaemia to test their haemoglobin levels from their home, the results will then be reported to their healthcare team monthly. This method of testing will allow those at risk during this pandemic to continue having their condition monitored, allowing treatments to be adjusted and any potential deterioration in health to be detected quickly. All while patients remain safer at home.
The patients are receiving a Luma device along with regular testing kits, enough for them to test their haemoglobin levels twice a week. Using this information, the healthcare professional can plot the progression of their condition and take this into account when prescribing or adjusting medication. This ensures that they're only invited into the hospital when the benefits outweigh the risks.
Professor Bhandari, from Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "We have been working in collaboration with Entia on Luma to allow many ofour highly vulnerable renal anaemia patients to remain safely at home whilst still optimising their haemoglobin levels. This improves their quality of life, empowers them with their own healthcare and potentially reduces the burden on hospitals. This is the future."
Andy Jones, medical manufacturing challenge director at Innovate UK/UKRI, added: "This project is a perfect, real-life example of the unique health infrastructure the UK is building, by funding science innovation, working with the NHS, academia and small business and creating a whole new medicines, medical technology and vaccines industry that can tackle today's health challenges and those of the future."
COVID-19 resulted in an accelerated deployment of the solution, which was fully supported by Innovate UK. Entia intends to also use this deployment to gather insight and further develop its home monitoring solutions.
