TECHNOLOGY IN CARE


Vital Sign of the Times


Oxehealth recently won funding to develop its camera-based patient monitoring technology. It hopes to save nurses valuable time and improve patient safety. Tomorrow’s Care finds out more.


Oxehealth has been awarded funding from Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, to extend its camera based vital signs monitoring technology. The funding has been granted under the Digital Health in the Connected Hospital theme, and will see the Oxecam technology tested in collaboration with Oxford University’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering, the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, and the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust.


With a project value of £606,000, Oxehealth will develop and trial its Oxecam technology in the extremely demanding environment of an upper gastro-intestinal ward of patients who have undergone cancer surgery.


Oxehealth has carried out a number of trials of the technology, including studies at the Oxford Kidney Unit, Churchill Hospital and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, John Radcliffe Hospital. The trials focused on testing heart rate, breathing rate and blood oxygenation of patients and were among the first of their kind, monitoring patients under high- dependency care.


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During this new phase of the project, Oxehealth will extend the capabilities of the technology for the first time to test all five essential patient monitoring vital signs at the same time, including blood pressure and temperature.


and greatly improve patient safety by providing round


the clock monitoring of all five essential vital signs.” - Catherine Stoddart, Chief Nurse at


Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust


The project will test, in a real-life setting, how the Oxecam can improve on the standard approach of periodic observations by staff, which has a number of problems. The current method can lead to inconsistencies and has the potential for cross- contamination. The process can disturb patients (especially at night) and it is costly in terms of nurse hours.


“Oxecam has the potential to support hospital staff


Oxecam offers a contactless solution to these problems, using sophisticated algorithms to process video images from several metres away, and allowing monitoring over an extended period to provide estimates of vital signs on a continuous basis.


Catherine Stoddart, Chief Nurse at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “One of the most important, yet time-consuming activities performed by nurses is the recording of vital signs. Nurses currently complete their routine monitoring for most hospital patients every four to six hours. Oxecam has the potential to support hospital staff and greatly improve patient safety by providing round the clock monitoring of all five essential vital signs, thus allowing sudden and unexpected deterioration to be recognised early, and treated quickly.


“We are delighted to be embarking on this project together with Oxehealth, and hope to help alleviate pressures within the hospital system, and improve the quality of care nurses are able to provide.”


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