Evidence Generation for the Clinical Efficacy and Cost Effectiveness of MyCOPD in patients with mild and newly diagnosed COPD.

"Millions of patients in the UK live with long term medical conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and lung diseases. These conditions are the major cause of ill health in the UK and cost the NHS billions of pounds each year. One long term condition that carries an enormous impact for patients and the NHS is COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). This lung condition affects over one million patients in the UK and is one of the major causes of admission to hospital.

Involvement of patients in the management of their own medical conditions (self-care) has been shown to improve how individuals feel, reduce the frequency of medical emergencies and reduce the costs of health care. In order to self-care successfully patients require the correct knowledge, skills and the confidence to make the right decisions; about their treatments, use of healthcare services and lifestyle choices. Recently the use of digital tools such as apps and websites has been shown to help patients with self-care and thus to improve their health. However in the UK there are very few providers of apps that are fully accredited by the NHS and only one that has been fully funded to provide apps nationally.

MyMHealth (short for my mobile health) is a UK company founded by NHS doctors which provides high quality digital tools (apps) to enable patients to access information about their condition and treatments and to record symptoms on their phones, tablets, computers or even smart TVs. MyMHealth has produced an app called MyCOPD which has been issued by the NHS to many thousands of patients in the UK. This was because it has been shown to improve the way patients with more severe COPD use their treatment and improved their day to day function through use of an online exercise programme.

In this proposed project the MyMHealth team will work with NHS professionals to explore how a modified version of MyCOPD could help patients with mild disease and particularly those newly diagnosed with the condition. We will explore how these patients can use the app and whether it's use can improve the ability to self manage their condition. We will study the potential for the app to establish appropriate and active decision making by patients and the impact of this on the use of NHS resources and the costs of day to day care."