Public Funding for Quiddity Health Ltd

Due to risk of COVID-19 people with severe respiratory conditions, including all idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) patients, have been classified by the NHS as "shielded" patients and are required to stay at home at all times. Shielded patients typically receive specialist assessment at consultant lead out-patient clinics at frequent intervals. The challenge is how to provide the specialist care and assessment that these patients require without the necessity for hospital out-patient visits, where these vulnerable patients would be placed at a very high risk of virus exposure. The NHS have stated that there is urgent need to increase remote working in the healthcare system to prevent the spread of the virus, and whilst video and telephone based consultations have become standard practice in primary care these do not allow for the collection and assessment of the types of medical data required for the specialist review and care of patients with severe respiratory conditions. We propose the immediate roll out and validation of an innovative specialist remote monitoring programme for care of patients with IPF in two NHS Trusts - Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (ICHNT) and Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust (NUH). This remote monitoring programme enables patients with IPF to collect clinical grade medical data relevant for their condition at home using bluetooth enabled medical devices integrated with a CE marked patient facing application. This includes the specialist measurement of lung function and oxygen saturation (using integrated spirometry and pulse oximetry) - both of which are standard assessments in a specialist IPF patient review. Patient data collected via the app are available for clinicians to review in real time, using a secure patient data portal. Using remote monitoring alongside video or telephone based consultations enables specialists to effectively replace standard out-patients appointments with innovative digital appointments. This technology can be used to provide medical care to a vulnerable section of our society in the immediate term, and in the longer term has the potential to serve as a model for new care pathways which are most cost-effective for the healthcare service, more convenient for patients, with positive impacts on the environment (carbon emissions and air quality) due to reduced need to travel to secondary care centres.