Brainomix strikes up partnership with Visionable to tackle “bottlenecks” in stroke care pathway

Oxford-based Brainomix, an AI-powered medtech company, has teamed up with Kent-based Visionable, a real-time clinical collaboration platform enabling virtual healthcare models, to transform the delivery of stroke care.

The two tech-enabled health companies are to collaborate and co-market two complementary solutions through Visionable’s collaboration platform and Brainomix’s e-Stroke AI software to enhance stroke care delivery from pre-acute to the intra-hospital.

Visionable’s patented, next-generation digital healthcare collaboration platform can be used across the care pathway, from emergency response connecting front-line responders and members of public on scene to remote specialist clinicians, through to hospital treatment, including virtual consultations, multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings and at-home care.

This platform is combined with Brainomix’s e-Stroke software - a collection of tools that use AI algorithms to support doctors by providing real-time interpretation of brain scans to help guide treatment and transfer decisions for stroke patients, allowing more patients to be treated in the right place, at the right time.

The two complementary technologies are saving time, reducing workload, and supporting improved outcomes which aligns with the UK national strategy to drive integration and efficiency for better care.

Brainomix is a recipient of a prestigious NHS Artificial Intelligence in Health and Care Award under which it has been deploying e-Stroke across a number of UK stroke networks over the past two years to evaluate its impact on stroke care across NHS regions. The additional benefit of combining e-Stroke with Visionable’s platform has been pioneered by the stroke team at Ipswich Hospital in Suffolk, with patients and staff already reaping positive results through faster delivery of care, superior performance metrics, and, most importantly, improved patient outcomes.

Dr Sajid Alam, Stroke Consultant at Ipswich Hospital, said: “As a district general hospital, we don’t have ready access to dedicated neuroradiologists to interpret every stroke scan. Having the AI software gives us more confidence when interpreting each scan – particularly the CTA’s, where we look for a large vessel occlusion (LVO), a key indicator of patient eligibility for mechanical thrombectomy.”

Patients admitted to Ipswich Hospital who are eligible for mechanical thrombectomy are transferred to the Royal London Hospital (RLH), a comprehensive stroke centre in Whitechapel that serves as a supraregional thrombectomy hub for Ipswich and a number of other stroke units across the Southeast of England.

Dr Alam added: “In stroke, time is critical. Using e-Stroke saves precious minutes, as the scans are immediately available for viewing on the Brainomix web portal. With RLH also using e-Stroke, we can communicate instantly, share images and make transfer decisions without delay.”

Recent performance metrics indicate that Ipswich Hospital is delivering best in-class service, with the proportion of patients being assessed by a Stroke Consultant within 24 hours above the national average (90.4% vs 82.9%), along with how quickly that assessment takes place from admission (4 hours 20 minutes compared to 9 hours 53 minutes nationally).

Rob Hughes, Chief Commercial Officer at Visionable, said: “Technology must make life easier for clinicians and improve treatment for patients; Brainomix and Visionable are delivering value in both areas. Combined, our complementary solutions have resulted in quicker delivery of care, instant access to rich data and improved patient outcomes – all while boosting job satisfaction for clinicians. The success so far is exciting, and we look forward to the growing impact our partnership will have on the quality of care for stroke patients.”

Riaz Rahman, VP Healthcare Global at Brainomix, added: “The strength of combining the proven technologies of Visionable and Brainomix means easy and instantaneous access to rich critical clinical information across the pre-acute and intra-hospital phases of stroke care. Our joint approach will tackle head on many of the known systems bottlenecks where multiple stroke centres are involved in a highly time sensitive pathway. We are excited by the enhanced efficiency and value our partnership will bring to healthcare professionals and our customers and look forward to accelerating the adoption of our combined systems under our partnership.”