Experimental technology, including the use of video games, pioneering gene therapies and new medical devices, is being developed with the aim of transforming NHS treatment.
The Department of Health and leading medical research charity, the Wellcome Trust, are supporting the Health Innovation Challenge Fund, which was set up in 2009. Its aim was to foster medical innovation with potential clinical application in the NHS within a five-year time frame.
One of the developers whose research has gained critical funding from the initiative is Professor Janet Eyre, at Newcastle University, who has been able to develop a system for therapists to monitor patients’ arm rehabilitation and recovery after a stroke using video games that can be played at home.
She explained that the continuous tracking of patients’ progress by their therapist will allow for recovery programmes to be even more specifically tailored and enable them to speed up.
“We hope that enabling therapists to monitor their patients’ progress remotely will improve compliance with home based therapy programmes, speed up recoveries and free up valuable clinic time,” she said. Ultimately, therapists will be able to supervise more patients and patients should regain greater independence.”
The technology is expected to be released for consumer and NHS use within two years.
http://www.kirkhamyoung.co.uk/news/article/fund-supporting-development-of-uk-medical-devices-183735.html
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