Working in partnership with North East London Foundation Trust (NELFT) and tech developer Healthy.io we are testing a new Chronic Wound Monitoring assessment tool to analyse chronic wounds over time and facilitate better care coordination for the patients of East London.

Last year the cost of chronic wound management in the UK was 5.4 billion pounds, a figure that has doubled in the last decade and equates to approximately 5% of British healthcare spending. Not only is it expensive, with the treatment of a single wound costing an average of £4,200, current methods of measurement are incredibly imprecise meaning measurements of change over time are not very useful and healing time for pressure wounds and skin ulcers can rise from 6-10 weeks to 16 weeks.

Healthy.io has developed an innovative wound assessment tool using a smartphone camera. Rather than District Nurses using a paper ruler to measure a wound or taking a still image that can lead to inaccuracies, the smartphone app takes a short video, with which computer algorithms can make a 3D measurement, allowing length, width, surface area and depth to be measured.

We are co-designing a new assessment pathway with NELFT District Nurses in Hawkwell Court who have been trained to use this wound assessment tool using a smartphone camera to measure, compare, analyse and model wounds, even allowing tissue viability nurses to see all the wounds in their area remotely.