Technology Integrated Health Management (TIHM)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Technology Integrated Health Management (TIHM)
IRAS ID
211318
Contact name
Helen Rostill
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 1 months, 1 days
Research summary
Our two year project will evaluate an ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) approach to improving the health and wellbeing of people with dementia and their carers. Dementia is a serious disorder, with over 850,000 affected in the UK (Prince et al 2013, 2014), costing £23bn annually (Luengo-Fernandez et al, 2010). The research is funded by NHS England and Innovate UK as one of only two IoT ‘Test Bed’ sites.
A growing body of evidence suggests that technology provides new opportunities for interventions to improve quality and access to health care. We want to find out if combinations of digital products such as wearables, monitors, sensors, apps and robotics can improve care and save money. The digital devices will be combined into an IoT developed by the University of Surrey 5G Innovation Centre, supported by the Information Security Group at Royal Holloway, University of London.
The initial focus will be to build a flexible, scalable IoT infrastructure that will support the integration of different devices in a ‘living lab’ before installation in people’s homes throughout Surrey. This will enable continuous monitoring, data analysis and real-time support to provide efficient, useful and actionable feedback to health and care staff, patients and carers.
Our randomised control trial (RCT) will compare standard care to standard care plus the IoT intervention and will involve 1,400 people – 700 in the live arm of the study (350 patients and 350 carers) and the same number in the control. This represents more than 10% of diagnosed dementia cases in Surrey, with participants recruited from Surrey GP dementia registers and the Alzheimer’s Society.
We will produce an economic analysis of benefits and savings alongside a broader evaluation measuring the effect on hospital and care home attendance and improvements to health, quality of life and the wider health and care system.
REC name
London - Surrey Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/LO/1802
Date of REC Opinion
21 Nov 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion