An innovative new pilot scheme has been launched in the West Midlands with the aim of giving patients the ability to undergo a procedure to detect the causes of digestive or stomach discomfort in the privacy of their homes.
Patients awaiting endoscopy (a procedure in which a camera is inserted into the intestine through a thin tube to look for signs of problems such as cancer) will soon be able to perform a similar, less invasive procedure from the comfort of their own homes. .
West Midlands 5G (WM5G), NHS Arden and GEM CSU, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire, and CorporateHealth International are exploring how a 5G-enabled, pill-sized chamber could be used to deliver a colon capsule endoscopic (CCE) in home under medical guidance.
Working with specialized connectivity partners, the pilot will develop the CCE Smartbox, a device that can be used independently in patients’ homes. Compatible with 5G, the Smartbox will capture and transmit images of the intestine without the need for a hospital environment.
As of April 2021, there were 187,000 patients scheduled for an endoscopy in hospitals in the UK, many of whom are on waiting lists for their procedures. The development of the 5G-connected Smartbox is expected to reduce this bottleneck through self-administration of the test.
Although this type of device has been available to patients for around 15 years, self-administration at home has yet to be tested at scale, with 5G connectivity the hope is to enable more widespread adoption of this technology.
In addition to the real-time transmission of captured images, the faster 5G internet will also allow the use of a “virtual assistant” that can provide answers and guidance to the patient, while doctors can track and monitor equipment throughout the process. Adoption of 5G to enable home testing is expected to reduce wait times and speed up the process of identifying wrongdoing and any subsequent treatment.
CCE offers a number of advantages, including providing patients with less invasive and more flexible testing, and potentially investigating their symptoms earlier. Clinical staff can save time and costs while increasing patient satisfaction, improving service efficiency, and providing test results to patients sooner.
