Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS has shared the impact of its virtual wards to support patients with chronic respiratory illnesses including COPD, and notes the service will introduce AI technology to help identify trends.
Since introducing the virtual ward over a year ago, the trust reports “a 40% reduction in the number of patients with COPD needing to come back into hospital for treatment”.
Mike Crooks, professor of respiratory medicine notes the next phase of the programme will “use AI to analyse this data and help us to identify trends and triggers that are likely to result in COPD patients requiring care and put interventions in place to support them before they reach this point”.
Commenting on the way in which the new system works, Mike added: “One of the characteristics of the condition is that people are prone to worsening of their symptoms that often results in needing hospital treatment but using the app can help to prevent this, by keeping track of how patients are feeling and what their symptoms are.”
Patients can use the app to contact their clinicians directly, and regular prompts support them on a daily, weekly and monthly basis to answer questions about their wellbeing, helping to gather important data on their symptoms.
AI in healthcare: the wider trend
Earlier this month, we reported on the rollout of a mobile AI service for diabetic retinopathy in outback Australia. Originally developed by Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, the service aims to tackle inequalities in eye health for rural and Indigenous Australians, with support from multiple organisations within the UK, including the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and the INSIGHT Health Data Research Hub.
A partnership of seven trust in Manchester has also seen the introduction of AI technology to support the detecting and diagnosing of diseases such as lung cancer. An AI-powered X-ray system will be introduced to help read chest X-rays by detecting up to 124 findings on chest radiographs and potential lung cancer cases, with the information said to be “relayed to the reporting medical provider in under a minute”.
The Medical and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MRHA) recently selected five new technologies as part of the AI Airlock scheme, as a way “to better understand how to regulate artificial intelligence powered medical devices”. Those that were chosen included medical devices for cancer, chronic respiratory disease and radiology diagnostic services.
Finally, Imperial College Healthcare also recently introduced an AI tool to help predict type 2 diabetes up to 10 years in advance. During routine heart scans, the tool analyses any subtle changes in EGC readings and is said to be accurate around 70% of the time. Developed by consultant cardiologist, Dr Fu Siong Ng, cardiology specialist registrar, Dr Arunashis Sau and the team, the AI-ECG Risk Estimation for Diabetes Mellitus (AIRE-DM) tool can help to spot risks of developing type 2 diabetes for people of any age, gender and ethnicity.
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