Developing a monitoring patch to predict heart failure

Revolutionising the way heart failure patients manage their care at home with wearable technology
Illustration of a heart with overlay of ECG monitoring
 

Overview

The University of Plymouth’s Centre for Health Technology (CHT) hopes to revolutionise the way heart failure patients manage their care at home with wearable technology. Spearheaded by Dr Om Prakash Singh, Professor Ray Jones MBE, and Professor Shangming Zhou, an innovative patch is being developed that will be worn by patients in the comfort of their own homes.
In collaboration with the University of Exeter, this exciting project focuses on creating an AI-enabled wearable patch that can detect patterns in real-time with minimal cloud dependency. This will ensure early and accurate detection of worsening HF, facilitating timely clinical intervention and reducing hospitalisations. The patch is designed in alignment with NHS guidance to feature enhanced security and privacy and function in low-internet-connectivity areas.

Objectives

  • Develop a prototype patch and conduct Level 3 testing to establish proof of concept.
  • Run preliminary trials to assess the feasibility and acceptability of the patches.
  • Gather data from healthy individuals and heart failure outpatients to analyse different patterns between the two groups. The trials will involve approximately 6–7 hours of contact time with outpatient patients, allowing for the examination of any changes in the body or the heart’s behaviour.
  • Analyse data to gain deeper insights into the product's performance.

Context of the issue

Heart failure (HF) is a prevalent condition causing severe symptoms and imposing a heavy burden on patients and healthcare systems. Managing HF patients at home has always been a challenge. Post-hospital discharge, patients face uncertainty, fear, and symptoms that often lead to seeking hospital care – even when those symptoms don’t necessarily signal an impending HF crisis. This can cause unnecessary stress, both for the patients and their healthcare providers.
In addition, despite the importance of self-care, adherence remains low, with up to 60% of patients skipping medications and 80% failing to follow lifestyle changes.
Elderly female patient describing chest pain symptoms to a healthcare provider

How the project addresses the issue

A personalised, AI-enabled ECG patch will be developed to transform home-based HF management. Unlike cloud-based wearables, this patch will perform real-time local AI processing, ensuring data privacy, reduced latency, and continuous HF monitoring. The findings from its use will support large-scale validation across diverse populations, paving the way for a proactive HF management solution that enhances patient outcomes and reduces hospital burden.
The patch will offer patients greater peace of mind by helping them better understand their symptoms. It will provide clinicians with the necessary tools to support ongoing care at home. The ultimate goal is to reduce unnecessary doctor visits, lower healthcare costs, and alleviate the psychological burden patients often experience. Home care for HF patients can be more effective, less stressful, and ultimately more empowering.
Heart failure monitoring system

Centre for Health Technology

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Centre for Health Technology