Oxford tech company launches "Good Neighbour" app to help monitor Covid-19 systems
Sensyne Health the Oxford-based clinical AI technology company, has launched a web-based COVID-19 focused software application.
The app, officially called "CVm-Health", which the company has coined the more easily-remembered name, 'Good Neighbour app', is Sensyne Health's first direct-to-consumer software application built on its new SensyneOS Clinical AI platform.
The app is free to anyone in the UK, and provides a secure way for individuals and families, sick or well, to monitor and support the management of their health for COVID-19 related symptoms.
The app will also enable individuals to be a "good neighbour" by helping remotely monitor and care for members of their family or community who are at risk from Coronavirus and digitally disconnected, either those with poor technology literacy or without access to the internet. The Office of National Statistics has reported that 11.3 million people in the UK lack the basic digital skills needed to use the internet effectively, while 4.8 million people never go online at all.
Sensyne aims to work alongside national and local charities and volunteer organisations.
The Good Neighbour app will help people to remotely monitor their own and other people's vital signs (e.g. pulse, temperature), COVID-19 related symptoms and log existing health conditions and medications
It can also be used for those in the community that will remain at risk, isolated and locked-down after general social distancing guidance is relaxed.
It has been built using Sensyne's expertise in developing validated digital health software products for the NHS that support healthcare specialists and patients in need, but the company says that it will not track location or share personal information and is fully GDPR and ISO compliant.
Lord Paul Drayson, CEO of Sensyne Health, said: "Current social distancing and self-isolation advice is limiting people's ability to care for the ones we love. While physical isolation during the crisis makes sense, social isolation doesn't. In line with Sensyne's aim to improve patient care, I hope CVm-Health becomes an app for everyone, including the digitally disconnected, and enables people to volunteer, from their laptop on their sofa, or at a safe distance in their neighborhood, to help look after those most vulnerable in society."
With the consent of users, data generated by the application will be anonymised and analysed using sophisticated machine learning techniques to derive insights that will be made available free to the NHS and for medical research into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19.
The Good Neighbour app builds on Sensyne Health's development of other digital health software products, such as its award-winning diabetes in pregnancy app, GDm-Health, and vital signs monitoring system SEN, and in applying machine learning and AI to anonymised patient data to support clinical decision-making and medical research.
Sensyne recently made its GDm-Health app available free to all NHS Trusts in the UK for one year, to assist with monitoring and managing this high-risk group during the COVID-19 pandemic, and relieve pressure on the NHS.
Dr Chris Paton, Head of the Global Health Informatics Group at the University of Oxford, and co-Chair of the independent CVm-Health Clinical Leadership Board, said:
"This app will be especially useful for those who want to help look after their family members or neighbours who might not have access to smartphones or tablet computers themselves. The app provides a simple and effective way of helping people track their own and others symptoms over time while ensuring the data collected is securely protected so that it can be used to help doctors and the NHS manage the Coronavirus pandemic."
