DTI Funds Diabetes E-Health Project

Docobo (UK) Ltd has been awarded a Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) SMART research and development grant for an e-health project based on home-based remote management of the outpatient care for hypertensive diabetics.

The DTI SMART award is intended to help develop technology to significantly improve the long term outcome of hypertensive diabetics and reduce the severity of the potential complications commonly caused by diabetes.

Based around Docobo’s Doc@Home system, the project is intended to demonstrate how hypertensive diabetic patients can be better managed using technology, to minimise the time they need to spend with healthcare professionals and enable them to take a more active role in their care.

A key aspect of the pilot service will be to provide the healthcare professional managing the hypertensive diabetic patient with all necessary information on the patient. This data will include their physiological data, such as blood glucose, blood pressure, ECG, body fat thereby allowing a highly tailored care plan to be provided.

In addition to monitoring a patient’s condition, the service will enable a patient to provide feedback to their healthcare professional on the impact changes on the healthcare plan have. It will also provide them with targeted self-care information to encourage

“In an affluent society like the UK, the NHS can expect an increase in over indulgence/obesity related conditions in the future; home based monitoring of chronic diseases is one way of relieving this pressure,” commented David Slorach, Director at Docobo (UK) Ltd.

According to Docobo figures up to 50% of patients attending diabetes clinics would not need to be there if they were suitably equipped with automatic monitoring and motivational systems such as the Doc@Home service.