Oxford software company helping boost patient monitoring secures further funding

A new patient monitoring "Software-as-a-Service" model has secured a further £300,000 investment.

Oxehealth, a joint spinout from the University of Oxford and the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, has developed the Digital Care Assistant (DCA), a software platform for monitoring clinical parameters of patients using low cost digital video camera sensors and proprietary software algorithms.

It secured the investment from Oxford Investment Consultants and the investment is part of a £5 million funding round led by existing shareholders.

Incorporating machine learning capabilities, the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform monitors patient breathing and heart rate and behaviour non-invasively and alerts the nurse or officer responsible for the patient or inmate if they are out of bed or require medical attention for another reason. This allows often over-stretched hospital wards, care homes and prisons to divide their resources more effectively while avoiding unnecessary contact with patients to monitor vital signs. The DCA’s Vital Signs module was cleared as a European Medical device in 2018 and is experiencing strong traction in UK Mental Health Trusts.

Coventry & Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust deployed Oxehealth’s Digital Care Assistant to improve patient safety in Dementia wards. Mental Health staff face a quandary: how can they verify that patients who are alone in their own bedrooms are safe and at the same time foster rest and privacy? The current standard of care is to risk assess patients and check them in person at frequent intervals: in Mental Health hospitals, these checks are typically carried out every 15 minutes.

Interim findings from the trial showed that there was a 33 per cent reduction in falls at night and 56 per cent reduction in demand for A&E.

Christopher Hall, Managing Partner of Oxford Investment Consultants, said: “In the midst of the current challenges caused by COVID-19, it’s great to announce a third investment in Oxehealth. The strong traction the DCA is gaining in UK Mental Health Trusts is positioning the Company to rebound strongly from the pandemic as we look forward to an exciting 2021. The management team’s hard work embodies OIC’s mission to invest in leading UK university spinout companies with commercially transformative technologies.”