Monitoring symptoms of Parkinson's disease to improve quality of life
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Wolverhampton
Department Name: Faculty of Education, Health & Wellbeing
Abstract
The ISCF Healthy Ageing Round two Follow on Fund 2023 is part of the Healthy Ageing Catalyst Award programme, funded by the UKRI Healthy Ageing Challenge and in collaboration with the US National Academy of Medicine's (NAM) Healthy Longevity Global Grand Challenge. With Zinc's programme of support, the Follow on Funding will be used to build upon previous Healthy Ageing Catalyst Award funding, with the aim of commercialising research in symptom monitoring by people living with Parkinson's disease.
Parkinson's disease affects 1% of adults over 60 years old, and due to an ageing population, its prevalence is increasing. The disease is characterised by movement symptoms and as there is currently no cure, living well with these symptoms is a priority. Movement symptoms vary during the course of a day and over the long-term, and being able to monitor these symptoms accurately and precisely has various benefits. These include informing current health status to help plan daily activities, and recording changes over time to enable optimization of treatment.
Building on the work of the project team's Catalyst Funding, this project aims to develop our prototype device which accurately and precisely measures upper limb movement relevant to symptoms of Parkinson's disease, into a commercial venture. Thus, providing people living with Parkinson's with the opportunity to efficiently and easily monitor symptoms at home.
Key elements of the project will involve; undertaking activities to ensure the continued development and commercialisation of the product, and the formation of a mission led company to deliver the product to users. The company will have user needs and benefits at it core with key stakeholders advising on product and company developments throughout the journey.
Parkinson's disease affects 1% of adults over 60 years old, and due to an ageing population, its prevalence is increasing. The disease is characterised by movement symptoms and as there is currently no cure, living well with these symptoms is a priority. Movement symptoms vary during the course of a day and over the long-term, and being able to monitor these symptoms accurately and precisely has various benefits. These include informing current health status to help plan daily activities, and recording changes over time to enable optimization of treatment.
Building on the work of the project team's Catalyst Funding, this project aims to develop our prototype device which accurately and precisely measures upper limb movement relevant to symptoms of Parkinson's disease, into a commercial venture. Thus, providing people living with Parkinson's with the opportunity to efficiently and easily monitor symptoms at home.
Key elements of the project will involve; undertaking activities to ensure the continued development and commercialisation of the product, and the formation of a mission led company to deliver the product to users. The company will have user needs and benefits at it core with key stakeholders advising on product and company developments throughout the journey.
Organisations
| Description | The most significant achievements from this award were: the incorporation of ConnectingPD, continued development of the prototype UX and product testing, and planning the next stages of our funding strategy. As a result of this work we have expanded our team and partners who have worked will us on this project and who work with us moving forward, this includes clinicians and other stakeholders in the technology space. Also there have been notable developments in the software platform that will be further tested and innovated in our ongoing work. |
| Exploitation Route | The findings from this project are being taken forward by the project team in the next stage of our work. |
| Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Healthcare |
| Description | During research related to our awards we have undertaken extensive patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) work to inform our research activities. This commenced during our previous award (ES/X006557/1) and continued through this award (ES/Y00762X/1) and is ongoing as we continue our research in this area. This work has been showcased by Parkinson's UK to promote PPIE in the Parkinson's community. Parkinson's UK published an article in their Progress Magazine which has a distribution of 26,000 members. The article was also published online in the Parkinson's UK Research (PPI) Involvement Newsletter and shared with the Parkinson's UK Research Support Network which has over 10,000 members. A member of our PPIE group has been asked to give a talk about their PPIE involvement to the Parkinson's UK North West Excellence Network. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2024 |
| Sector | Healthcare,Other |
| Impact Types | Cultural Societal |
| Company Name | Connecting PD Limited |
| Description | |
| Year Established | 2024 |
| Impact | None yet - newly incorporated. |
| Description | Articles published by Parkinson's UK about the PPIE engagement in our research |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Patients, carers and/or patient groups |
| Results and Impact | Parkinson's UK published an article in their Progress Magazine about the patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) group we run, that has informed the research related to our awards (ES/X006557/1 and ES/Y00762X/1) and continues to inform our ongoing work. Progress magazine has a distribution of 26,000 members. The article was also published in the Parkinson's UK Research (PPI) Involvement Newsletter on Medium and shared with the Parkinson's UK Research Support Network which has over 10,000 members. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://medium.com/researchinvolvement/developing-a-home-monitoring-device-for-people-with-parkinson... |
| Description | Co-design workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | People with Parkinson's disease and their carers/close family members took part in a co-design session to help inform the innovation of our prototype device which monitors symptoms of Parkinson's disease. This was an interactive session and provided the research team with useful suggestions towards the development of the device this project centres around and informed decisions on device prototype development. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Exhibition stand at The Future Awakens Event hosted by West Midlands Health Technology Cluster, as part of Birmingham Tech Week |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | We showcased the technology we have developed, as a result of our awards (ES/X006557/1 and ES/Y00762X/1), at the event. This enabled a number of meaningful interactions and connections with many different people and organisations operating in the health technology space. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://birminghamtechweek.com/events/health-tech-partner/ |
| Description | Multiple Co-design Workshops |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | A combination of people with Parkinson's disease and their carers/close family members, and health professionals took part in online co-design sessions to help inform the continued innovation of our prototype device which monitors symptoms of Parkinson's disease. This continues the research related to our awards (ES/X006557/1 and ES/Y00762X/1). Four workshops were held in April 2024, three workshops in October 2024 and four workshops in January 2025. These were interactive sessions and provided the research team with useful suggestions towards the development of the device this project centres around and informed decisions on device prototype development. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024,2025 |
| Description | Multiple PPIE Sessions |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Patients, carers and/or patient groups |
| Results and Impact | Four people agreed to form a Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) group for the duration of our current research project. The group were recruited through the Parkinson's UK, PPI network and consisted of people living with Parkinson's disease. Three members of the group had been members of a PPIE group supporting our previous award (ES/X006557/1) and asked to stay on for the current project (ES/Y00762X/1). They attended three PPIE workshops from November to February 2024, where interesting and lively discussion took place about the current project. This resulted in suggestions being provided to help the ongoing management and direction of the project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023,2024 |
| Description | Multiple PPIE Sessions |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Patients, carers and/or patient groups |
| Results and Impact | We formed a Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) group, in order to support and inform research related to our awards (ES/X006557/1 and ES/Y00762X/1). To inform ongoing research related to these awards we have continued to run the group and participants attended seven PPIE workshops from March 2024 to March 2025. During the workshops interesting and lively discussion took place to inform ongoing research activities stemming from our previous awards. This resulted in suggestions being provided to help the ongoing management and direction of the project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024,2025 |
| Description | Multiple co-design interviews with health professionals |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | One-to-one and small group interviews with health professionals to aid with co-design of the device being developed for this project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023,2024 |
| Description | Talk at Parkinson's support group (Gloucestershire) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Approximately 23 people from a local Parkinson's support group attended a talk about our research into Parkinson's disease, related to our awards (ES/X006557/1 and ES/Y00762X/1). The presentation was very well received and interesting and engaging discussion took place afterwards. Members of the group offered their support to the project and to take part in our continued research in this area. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |