An innovative approach to improve health and wellbeing by the development of an app to monitor falls in elderly populations

Project Ref: PHDSS1726. Falls in the elderly is a major concern and the incidence impacts on life expectancy, quality of life and cost to the NHS. The costs include rehabilitation and hospitalization pre and post event and are estimated to be millions of pounds. The purpose of this proposal would be to develop a device that could measure the incidence and prevention of falls and consider if the subjects are fit for the purposes of mobility pre and post event. The device would be validated against established mobility tests while providing vertical and horizontal components. This will give us information related to the position of the subjects. We could also incorporate a time monitoring system, whereby inactivity could be investigated during the evening, night and day. This would provide us with several essential pieces of information;

1. Physical activity levels.
2. If the subjects are not moving this could be due to a fall or other injury.
3. Potential for the incorporation of vital signs, heart rate, hydration, respiration and temperature etc.
4. Could also interpret if the subjects were sitting standing or in a supine position.
5. If supine during daytime, could be the result of an injury that may need medical attention
6. We could link the device to a central mainframe for all patients in the home, with an alarm set up.
7. Not sure if we could include a camera on there to give us a profile, with perhaps audio and visual interaction, again with the potential to stream information via a mainframe computer.

Benefits would include massive savings to the NHS, a safe system to monitor patients in the home, in isolation, or in a care home or hospital environment. The system would provide staff with a more focused information, which would save time, and provide specialist action when needed. Data opportunities also include the development of a main frame system for constant monitoring of the patient population. There may also be funding opportunities here from several agencies who would be very interested in this, and of course, we have European and International agendas that we may want to consider. As the population ages, the incidence of falls increase, so management of this is crucial. The research would produce four or five 4* papers and provide many funding opportunities from external sources. There may also be potential for the device to be promoted as part of a spin out initiative. This application is multi-disciplinary and involves collaborations from three schools within the university.