Helicon Health is a delivery partner for a new asthma study in Leicester – Smart Digital Inhaler enabled asthma management in high-risk children aged 5 to 16 years managed in primary care to prevent asthma attacks.
The goal of the study, which involves several primary care practices in Leicester, is for better asthma control – measured by rescue medication use, a symptom questionnaire and the number of flare-ups children and young people with the Smart Inhaler experience. This is the first time that a UK study will identify high-risk children and young people who could benefit from a Smart Inhaler from a systematic search of GP records, and if the study is successful, could pave the way for its wider adoption across the NHS.
Children and young people in the study are using the Hailie® digital inhaler, which is manufactured by Adherium Europe Ltd, a leader in respiratory eHealth, remote patient monitoring and data management solutions. The Hailie® digital inhaler, monitors inhaler use and technique and provides feedback to the child and their family via a smartphone app and to the child’s medical team via an online portal.
The study is being led by Dr Erol Gaillard at the University of Leicester and University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust. “This could be a real turning point for the way we help children with high-risk asthma in the UK. We know that many people with asthma struggle with taking their medication regularly as prescribed. This study represents a huge joint effort from NHS, the University, charity and the MedTech industry to demonstrate how devices like Hailie® can help to better control asthma and keep children out of hospital.”
Asthma is the most common, long-term medical condition in children in the UK, with around one million children and young people living with asthma (around one in 11, or 3 in every typical classroom). [1] The UK has one of the highest prevalences, emergency admissions and death rates for childhood asthma in Europe1, despite emergency admissions, and deaths, relating to asthma being largely preventable with improved management and early intervention. [2]
Helicon Health Ltd is a leader in delivering healthcare virtually and in this study, will deploy and support Adherium’s Hailie® digital inhalers in collaboration with the University of Leicester team.
The study is backed by the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board, the Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research Patient and Public Involvement group, Health Innovation East Midlands and Asthma + Lung UK, and has received funding of £499,871 from the Small Business Research Initiative Healthcare (SBRI Healthcare), an Accelerated Access Collaborative Initiative.
Sources
- NHS England: Childhood asthma. Available at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/childhood-asthma/
- The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. Asthma. Available at: https://stateofchildhealth.rcpch.ac.uk/evidence/long-term-conditions/asthma/
More information about this study is available from the following link https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c800w59ww9wo
