The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is trialling a patch that measures the vital signs of patients and transfers them wirelessly to the clinical IT system.
SensiumVitals, developed by Sensium Healthcare, measures a patient’s heart rate, respiration and temperature every two minutes and sends an early warning alert to nurses on their mobile device if the readings are too high or low.
The system is being tested as part of a six month trial at St James’s University Hospital in two colorectal surgery wards for patents who have undergone surgery – a group that is particularly vulnerable to having their condition deteriorate quickly.
Around 100 patients are involved in the trial, which is supported by funding from the National Institute for Health Research.
SensiumVitals will be compared with standard hospital monitoring equipment to see if it improves on the time it takes to detect complications in patients following surgery.
The study’s lead, Professor David Jayne, professor of surgery at St James’, said that the results of the trial will inform larger studies testing the technology in the NHS.
“Post-surgery, patients’ health can deteriorate rapidly. In these circumstances, it is important that clinicians are able to intervene as quickly as possible. The SensiumVitals wireless monitoring system has the potential to play an important role in improving patient care in this area,” he said.
The trial was championed by the government’s minister for life sciences George Freeman, who said it, “has the potential to bring huge benefits to patients and staff and highlights why the NHS is the ideal place to test new digital technologies.”