Key Points
ABOUT SENSIUM
Sensium Healthcare was founded in 2000 under the name “Toumaz Technology”, as a spin out from Imperial College London. The founders were Professor Chris Toumaz and Dr Alison Burdett, at that time both members of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Toumaz Technology was founded to commercialise the low power biomedical and wireless expertise of the co-founders. The business was rebranded as “Sensium Healthcare” in 2013, and in 2016 was acquired by The Surgical Company (TSC), where it is now forms the division “TSC – Connected Care”.
Professor Toumazou, FRS, FREng is a pre-eminent amongst the global community of contemporary medical engineers. In 1994 Toumazou was appointed the youngest Professor ever to be appointed at Imperial College, at the age of 33. In 2013 he became London’s First Regius Professor of Engineering conferred to Imperial College during the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
Dr Burdett remains as Chief Scientific Officer of the company and has over 30 years of experience in electronic engineering and semiconductor design, particularly in the field of ultra-low power wireless communication for medical applications. She is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology (FIET) and a Senior Member of the IEEE.
Sensium is based close to Oxford, UK, where 40 highly skilled engineers and operation staff are employed.
THE SENSIUM SYSTEM
The Sensium System comprises a light, disposable, comfortable patch worn on the patient’s chest to monitor their vital signs and communicates this information to a configurable and secure back-end server system.
Sensium accurately and reliably monitors and reports heart rate, respiration rate and axilla temperature; the earliest indicators of any patient decline. Smart algorithms continuously process and analyse all patient data, generating targeted notifications of patient deterioration, efficiently bringing the nurse to the deteriorating patient. The Sensium system has been extensively validated through peer-reviewed clinical research and has the most comprehensive published evidence base in the wearables space, with 25 peer review publications.
Sensium believes that the location of patient care should be secondary to the quality of care that the patient receives, and in that regard utilising the Sensium system allows “Acute Care Anywhere”. A patient being monitored by the Sensium solution can seamlessly transition between their home and the hospital, wearing the same patch while being continuously monitored throughout. Our Hospital@Home bridge is a true “plug and play” device requiring no technical set up, pairing, or configuring to domestic Wi-Fi.
The Sensium System comprise a light, disposable, comfortable patch worn on the patient's chest to monitor their vital signs and communicates this information to a configurable and secure back-end server system.
UK Hospital Admissions: Facts and Figures
In 2020, in the UK there were over 16M hospital admissions, an increase of over 2% on the previous year and 28% over the previous decade, with an average length of just under 5 days. Rising hospital admission rates can be attributed to a growing population, demographic changes and patients rising expectations. It is expected that the rate of increase of hospital inpatient admissions will further increase by 30-40% in the next decade meaning that by 2028 total inpatient admissions may be in the region of 22.8M. NHS data predicts a gap between the rise in hospital admissions and hospital funding, producing a discrepancy between resources and patient needs of nearly £30 billion a year. In addition to increased demand, the Department of Health reports that the number of hospital beds in England over the last 40 years has decreased, leaving the NHS struggling to cope. The report recommends that in the next five years, an increase of 4000 beds (2000 in acute/general beds and 2000 in intermediate care) is required.
Scaling Up
The NHS Long Term Plan encourages effort to deliver more healthcare out of acute hospitals and closer to home, with the goal of preventing unnecessary emergency hospital admissions and speeding up discharge. It has been reported that 50-60% of medical inpatient beds in UK hospitals are occupied by patients who could be cared for elsewhere. Considering this and the significant increase in patient admissions, without a 40% increase in hospital capacity, the ability to care for patients in their own homes will become more and more important These ‘hospital at home’ service schemes provide care that is usually available only in hospital in a patient’s home—such as observation, administration of drugs, support, nursing care, and rehabilitation. The aim is to reduce costs to the health service by reducing length of stay in hospital with earlier discharge or by avoiding admission altogether
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PATIENT BENEFITS FROM HOSPITAL AT HOME
Utilising hospital at home services means that patient can receive care that was traditionally only available in hospital in the comfort and familiar surroundings of their own home. This means that patients do not need to worry about transport to and from hospital and can fully concentrate on their recovery rather be apprehensive about unfamiliar settings and new care arrangements. Any existing social support can continue to be provided with the minimum of interruption and this is of particular importance in the presence of any cognitive impairment where familiarity of environment is paramount.
There are risks associated with any hospital stay. Hospital acquired infection is a real prospect and in the current climate any reduction in exposure to potential pathogens is tangible benefit to patients participating in hospital at home programs. When enrolled in a hospital at home program patients can continue to engage in their day-to-day routines which can include being mobile and active. Maintaining a healthy level of movement and activity is a key consideration in patient recovery from an acute exacerbation of a chronic condition.
The reassurance that patients receive from the knowledge that they are being monitored is important to negate patient potential worry about any unnoticed downturn in their condition. If any deterioration in the patient’s condition was to happen a healthcare professional will be notified and appropriate changes to the patients care pathway can be initiated if required. Sensium have 4 peer review publication that deal either exclusively, or partially, with patients experience of being monitored with the Sensium system. A strong and recurring theme in the studies is the positive impact that patients sense of safety has on their recovery. 60-90% of patients report that an enhanced sense of safety means that they are free to concentre on their recovery rather than worry about a deterioration in their condition.