EPSRC IRC 'SPHERE' - a Sensor Platform for HEalthcare in a Residential Environment

The UK's healthcare system faces unprecedented challenges. We are the most obese nation in Europe and our ageing population is especially at risk from isolation, depression, strokes and fractures caused by falls in the home. UK health expenditure is already very substantial and it is difficult to imagine the NHS budget rising to meet the future needs of the UK's population. NHS staff are under particular pressure to reduce hospital bed-days by achieving earlier discharge after surgery. However this inevitably increases the risk that patients face post operative complications on returning home. Hospital readmission rates have in fact grown 20% since 1998.

Many look to technology to mitigate these problems - in 2011 the Health Minister asserted that 80% of face-to-face interactions with the NHS are unnecessary.

SPHERE envisages sensors, for example:
1) That employ video and motion analytics to predict falls and detect strokes so that help may be summoned.
2) That uses video sensing to analyse eating behaviour, including whether people are taking their prescribed medication.
3) That uses video to detect periods of depression or anxiety and intervene using a computer-based therapy.

The SPHERE IRC will take a interdisciplinary approach to developing these sensor technologies, in order that:

1) They are acceptable in people's homes (this will be achieved by forming User Groups to assist in the technology design process, as well as experts in Ethics and User-Involvement who will explore issues of privacy and digital inclusion).

2) They solve real healthcare problems in a cost-effective way (this will be achieved by working with leading clinicians in Heart Surgery, Orthopaedics, Stroke and Parkinson's Disease, and recognised authorities on Depression and Obesity).

3) The IRC generates knowledge that will change clinical practice (this will be achieved by focusing on real-world technologies that can be shown working in a large number of local homes during the life of the project).

The IRC "SPHERE" proposal has been developed from day one with clinicians, social workers and clinical scientists from internationally-recognised institutes including the Bristol Heart Institute, Southampton's Rehabilitation and Health Technologies Group, the NIHR Biomedical Research Unit in Nutrition, Diet and Lifestyle and the Orthopaedic Surgery Group at Southmead hospital in Bristol. This proposal further includes a local authority that is a UK leader in the field of "Smart Cities" (Bristol City Council), a local charity with an impressive track record of community-based technology pilots (Knowle West Media Centre) and a unique longitudinal study (the world-renowned Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), a.k.a. "The Children of the Nineties").

SPHERE draws upon expertise from the UK's leading groups in Communications, Machine Vision, Cybernetics, Data Mining and Energy Harvesting, and from two corporations with world-class reputations for research and development (IBM, Toshiba).

The SPHERE IRC aims to have a profound impact on the health and well-being of people with a wide range of different health challenges and the UK's growing elderly population. The beneficiaries will also include families, carers, health and social services professionals involved in all stages of care. SPHERE targets significant health challenges; obesity, depression, stroke, falls, cardiovascular and musculoskeletal diseases.

SPHERE's approach includes a substantial amount of technology demonstration. This is specifically designed to ensure that benefits to key stakeholders are brought about - these beneficiaries include clinicians, the NHS and UK industry, which will be able to build not only on the SPHERE technology platform, but will be able to access the body of knowledge and understanding built up through 5 years work with communities and user groups. It is impossible to overstate the importance of this; home healthcare technology is inherently highly invasive and technologies that are not designed from the outset with user participation from a wide range of demographics are doomed to fail. Furthemore, industrial pull-through will only be achievable if technology meets the needs of doctors, nurses, social workers, care-givers and the NHS generally - SPHERE is ideally-situated to take those needs on board.

Specific industrial beneficiaries include the project partners IBM and Toshiba who by participating have strongly indicated their interest in the outcomes, but also companies including Phillips, Texas instruments, Intel and Microsoft all of whom are already marketing, or are known to be researching, ICT heathcare solutions, services and/or telehealth/home sensor devices. There are also a number of companies in the UK and elsewhere developing ICT products for assisted living e.g. "Sensormind" and "Just Checking".

SPHERE already includes engagement with local government through the participation of Bristol City Council. Bristol has an excellent - and growing - reputation for Smart City research and has a "Futures Group" that has a remit to evaluate the opportunities for ICT in the delivery of the city's services (see the letter of support). Bristol City Council is participating in several EU funded technology projects for this reason, and with the City's growing statutory responsibility for the health of its citizens, Bristol City Council (like other local authorities) is keenly interested in the role of technology in healthcare. The City Council works closely with national government and is an ideal point of contact.

SPHERE has a stated objective to engage with policy-makers and this will be delivered though the eminent and influential co-investigators that are such a valued part of the IRC. Many of these co-investigators already have considerable track-record in interfacing with policy-makers in the NHS and in Government.