Asthma⁺me self-care solution for children and young people with asthma, launched by Aseptika (Activ8rlives)

29 October 2018
Asthma⁺me self-care solution for children and young people with asthma, launched by Aseptika (Activ8rlives)

1.1 million children in the UK have Asthma. During 2015-2016, 21 children died from an asthma attack. It was reported that 19 of these deaths could have been prevented.

For most children, their asthma can be well controlled through partnership with their GP and local asthma nurse.

But for some children with moderate-to-severe asthma, careful management is required to get their asthma under control and to keep it well managed to prevent future asthma attacks. This can require treatment in and support from specialist paediatric centres in major hospitals. These are being overwhelmed by the growing demand. Childhood asthma will be one of the NHS’ top priorities in its 10-Year Plan.

Asthma⁺meᵀᴹ is a new solution developed by UK company Aseptika in partnership with one of the UK’s leading paediatric care centres, which is only one of four in England dedicated to treating children.

Asthma⁺me has been designed to support the whole family in learning about the severity of their child’s asthma, how to manage it and provides the tools for both parents and the Paediatricians to monitor the level of control being achieved between appointments and at home.

There are medically approved quizzes to deliver age-appropriate education; questionnaires to check on day-to-day control; Bluetooth monitors that connect to Smartphones to record lung-function; medication diaries to track and remind the family of when medications are to be taken and when to order repeat prescriptions. Pollution, weather and pollen alerts are brought into the Parent Dashboard and the child can earn points towards prizes or treats agreed with family and friends as motivation to adhere to their daily Care Plan.

Regularly taking their inhaler medication as prescribed, is particularly critical to avoid further asthma attacks and so Asthma⁺me also includes a Bluetooth-connecting inhaler tracker called PUFFClickerᵀᴹ , which counts and records how many doses are taken to help the family keep track. It supports correct inhaler technique using its in-built accelerometer to confirm that the inhaler has been shaken and a timer to show when to take the next dose. The Activ8rlives PUFFClicker uses a simple accessory to ensure that it fits the pressurised metered dose inhalers (the ones with the cylinder) most frequently prescribed to children such as the preventer inhalers (Seretide Evohaler®, Flixotide Evohaler® and Clenil® Modulite®) and the reliever inhalers containing Salbutamol (Ivax Salamol® and Ventolin® Evohaler®).

Parents can use the Asthma⁺me App to generate an interactive Asthma Care Plan that can be printed and given to GPs, Clinics, Schools, Friends and Family for sleep-overs, visits and school trips. The Reports show physiological data, medication adherence, weight/growth charts and medication diaries and can sent to the GP or specialist clinic for inclusion in the child’s medical records.

The Asthma⁺me App and the PUFFClicker are both approved as medical devices (Class 1) by the UK’s regulatory authorities and are undergoing feasibility trials for use by the NHS. The development of this solution for children with moderate-to-severe asthma was funded by the innovative procurement process to solve key NHS healthcare challenges by the SBRI Healthcare NHS initiative.

Professor Heather Elphick is a Consultant in Paediatric Respiratory Medicine at Sheffield Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and is the Lead for Children and Young People’s National Institute of Healthcare Research Medtech and In vitro diagnostic Co-operative:

“Sheffield Children’s Hospital is treating an increasing number of children with moderate-to-severe asthma who need to take time-off from school with their parents, to travel for up to 2 hours to attend our outpatient clinics here. It is essential that the waiting times for their first outpatient appointment is as short as possible which means that we must free the time of front-line staff where ever we can. We are always looking for innovative ways to deploy new technologies to improve the quality of our care, work with more patients and achieve this as efficiently as possible. SBRI Healthcare has provided the opportunity to work directly with Aseptika to co-develop a solution as a possible alternative to outpatient appointments, building skills and good management techniques which will stay with them when they reach 18 years of age and transfer to adult services.”

Both Asthma⁺me App and the PUFFClicker are available for sale to the public from the Company’s website www.activ8rlives.com and from online retailers and App stores (Apple, Google and Amazon).

-End-

For more information, please visit: www.activ8rlives.com

Activ8rlives, Activ8rlives.com, Asthma⁺me and PUFFClicker are trademarks of Aseptika Ltd.

For further details, please contact Jessica Auton on 01480 352821 or email jessica.auton@aseptika.com

 

Aseptika Ltd

Aseptika Ltd began developing Activ8rlives in 2010 and is currently developing its third generation of integrated systems, which can be used by consumers and their healthcare service providers using a wide range of platforms or devices to better enable effective and easy self-monitoring. Incorporating sensors and monitors ranging from consumer accessories to in vitro diagnostics (IVDs). Our focus is: respiratory and cardiovascular disease, cancer, promoting physical activity and weight management.

 

Sheffield Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust is one of only four dedicated child-only hospital trusts in the UK and provides integrated healthcare for children and young people, including community and mental health care as well as acute and specialist services. The Trust is rated one of the best medical and surgical services for children in the country and makes an ideal partner, both in this project and in those to follow. Its respiratory team has more than 30 members of staff including consultants, nurse specialists specialising in a number of areas, respiratory physiologists and specialist physiotherapists. Aseptika gratefully acknowledges the co-design and input to the development of Asthma⁺me by the Staff and Patients at Sheffield Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

 

SBRI Healthcare

This work was commissioned and funded by the SBRI Healthcare programme. SBRI Healthcare is an NHS England initiative, championed by the Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs). The views expressed in the publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the SBRI Healthcare programme or its stakeholders.

 

Trademarks

Flixotide Evohaler® Seretide Evohaler® and Ventolin Evohaler®, are the Registered Trademarks of the GlaxoSmithKline group of companies.

Ivax Salamol® is the trademark of Teva Pharmaceuticals.

Clenil® Modulite is the Registered Trademark of Chiesi Limited.