New wearable health tracker transmits data directly to doctors
Scotland's NHS is to conduct trials of a new wearable, called snap40, which continuously collects patient data and directly alerts healthcare providers if a wearer's vital signs indicate a health risk. The device is worn on the upper arm and tracks data on heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, respiratory rates and oxygen levels, as well as emotion and posture. Two Scottish hospitals will test the devices on a total of 500 patients in April and May. The makers of the device say that it is capable of transmitting 15,000 data points every 30 seconds. 
Once the data has been collected, the firm's machine learning algorithms analyse the raw data and turn it into a patient's vital signs. The device can then send alerts to medical staff when necessary.

It has a battery-life of two days, wireless charging and transmits patient information by Wi-Fi twice a minute. McCann says the device will only be worn by people admitted to the hospital, but not by anyone under the age of 16.

"Essentially the device itself measures parameters that indicate if the patient is stable or not," says Alex Baldacchino, NHS Fife research and development director. The snap40 product has already been piloted within the organisation, he adds.

snap40

According to Baldacchino, clinical environments "are not that relaxed around novel technologies" but initial research from the pilot was "very encouraging" and the new tests will prove its feasibility on patients. "This will give an early warning to a situation if it actually happens, without that time being wasted by nurses taking those measurements," Baldacchino continues.

The device is one of a number of approaches being taken by different branches of the NHS, and the medical profession generally, to improve patient care. A wearable patch developed by VitalConnect sends vital signs to caregivers and has already been tested in Europe and the USA.

In the UK, Manchester-based startup eLucid mHealth was awarded test contracts with the NHS to provide patients with medications in a "secure, intelligent container". The natural language AI company Babylon is due to begin a trial in North London where 1.2 million people will receive medical advice from a chatbot.

Baldacchino explains the NHS has to test new technologies to save time and money. The message was echoed by Mahiben Maruthappu, the co-founder of the NHS Innovation Accelerator at WIRED Health in 2016.

"A lot of time is spent to monitor and prevent a situation that might never happen," says Baldacchino of the snap40 wearable. "This will give an early warning to a situation if it actually happens, without that time being wasted by nurses taking those measurements."

For McCann, the product is "100 per cent not about trying to replace" doctors. He says it is to assist them so they can use their time better. It is hoped the two trials, which will be completed by the end of the year, will be a starting point for expansion in the UK and internationally.

"For us, these two implementations are not all we're doing this year," says McCann. "We hope to be in a further seven hospitals – six of them in the UK and one in the US – by the end of this year."