Aseptika is collaborating with the University of Birmingham, University of York and the National Audit of Cardiac Rehabilitation (NACR) to study the impact of cardiac rehabilitation that combines in-person coaching, remote monitoring and patient education and support.
Delivery of the hybrid cardiac rehabilitation will be done through Aseptika’s Active+me REMOTE digital platform and will be funded by Innovate UK.
The evaluation of Aseptika’s system will be done by using information that is routinely collected in an anonymised form by the NACR.
Professor Kate Jolly, professor of public health and primary care at the Institute of Applied Health Research, University of Birmingham, will lead the evaluation.
Professor Jolly said: “This research project aims to explore new ways in which digitally delivered healthcare is tested with patients without the costs and long timelines associated with traditional clinical trials that can take many years to conduct.
“We will use anonymised data reported to the NACR to find out whether more patients take up hybrid rehabilitation and whether the expected improvements in quality of life are seen, compared with pre-pandemic services which previously mainly offered in-person group-based delivery.”
One of the NHS Long Term Plan aims is to increase the number of eligible patients joining cardiac rehabilitation after a heart event from 50% to 85%.
Along with the evaluation of the service, potential cost savings will also be researched by Sebastian Hinde, research fellow at the Centre for Health Economics at the University of York.
He said: “We already know that the cost of reaching the ‘next 35%’ of patients who suffer from health inequalities is going to be higher. We expect that this study will show how delivery using technology and through in-person contact with patients can help the NHS achieve its long term plan.”
Aseptika’s Active+me REMOTE is already used by the NHS in several hospitals. The associated app is used at home to help people receive and review information from connected medical and non-medical devices and track adherence to prescribed exercise, education and medication use.
The 18-month project follows a positive trial with Addenbrookes Hospital during the Covid pandemic, which was supported by Eastern Academic Health Sciences Network (EAHSN) and Innovate UK.
It is not the first project which Aseptika has received funding from Innovate UK for. Earlier this year it won a Smart Award to help fund the development of its third generation smart inhaler tracker.