Teesside serves as test bed for “groundbreaking” dialysis patient technology

Technology which aims to enable patients receiving dialysis at home to have their treatment monitored remotely is to be evaluated across the Tees Valley.

The technology is being put into practice via the South Tees Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and partners at Teesside University, the What Works Centre for Wellbeing and Alio Medical, a medical technology company from San Francisco, California.

The technology aims to enable patients and their caregivers the ability to monitor key treatment measurements at home, without the need for invasive blood tests or hospital visits.

The project has won funding through Q Lab UK, a Health Foundation and NHSX collaboration which aims to explore how to build trust and confidence in technology enabled remote monitoring to help develop digital capabilities in the National Health Service.

Dr Jonathan Murray, one of the renal consultants at South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, has previously led similar evaluations of the Alio Medical technology amongst patients receiving dialysis within the hospital.

Dr Murray said: “Our goal has always been to help develop technologies which can enable patients to have their health monitored remotely, including at home. This would empower patients and provide autonomy by effectively enabling patients to monitor their health and treatment around their daily activities, rather than vice versa.

“As the Alio Monitoring System is developing, we recognise it is imperative that we understand which factors matter to patients and would influence their use of such technology at home and this project with Q Lab UK will help us to achieve this.”

John S. Young is Professor of Translational Healthcare at the National Horizons Centre at Teesside University who will manage the project. Professor Young said: “This project has the potential to make a massive difference to patients’ lives.

“Crucially this is an implementation project rather than a trial. Alio Medical hopes to have the technology approved for clinical use in the near future and the current project will help inform subsequent integration of this technology within care pathways.

“At Teesside University’s National Horizons Centre, we work with healthcare providers and the biomanufacturing industry to develop, test and then deliver innovations to the NHS - providing the patient benefit that unites all our efforts.”

Dave Karaguntla, CEO of Alio, commented: “We are pleased to be collaborating with South Tees and the NHS. Their tremendous support and collaboration is providing Alio with the ability to evaluate our dialysis patient monitoring system and how it will provide significant numbers of dialysis patients under their care with greater control over their own health.”