The AXA PPP Health Tech & You Awards were launched and opened to developers, designers and innovators in the field of personal technology, with over 120 entries being received. The finalists were showcased and winners announced at a dedicated exhibition at the Design Museum in London.
The Company’s sputum test and vital signs monitors aims to predict flare-ups in chest infections in those who have long-term respiratory conditions with the hope of reducing hospital admissions and improving healthcare. The bacterial test is read by the EyKos unit to predict likely flare-ups within the next 5-14 days.
One of the judges selecting the winner for the category “Manage My Condition”, Dr Steven Iley, Medical Director Health Services, AXA PPP healthcare and Chairman of the judging panel commented:
"We looked for technology that would make a difference to patients, helping them to better manage their own health and their condition.
"The winner [Activ8rlives] is a fantastic example of the patient taking more control. It moves the care and monitoring back to patient level. This product [Activ8rlives and EyKos] was the most focused on managing a condition and keeping people out of hospital. It demonstrated real benefit to the patient. This clever technology changes the health landscape."
The need for personal responsibility and for us to take a more proactive role in our health is echoed by Gail Beer, Director of Operations of 2020Health:
“The way we practice medicine now is very much that the clinician is in control,” she says. “[The rise of health tech] will fundamentally change that relationship because the individual will have much more information at their fingertips about their health and will be able to have a much more objective dialogue with their clinician, rather than just taking the information or advice offered. It makes it more of a joint decision and that represents a real challenge to clinicians who are not used to working in that way.”
“We are at the beginning of all this … [The widespread adoption of self-care] requires a shift in the way the NHS delivers care.”
Kevin A. Auton, Ph.D., Founder and Managing Director of Aseptika Ltd, commented on the win: “Measuring an individual’s vital signs combined with data from our patented sputum test will greatly assist in predicting the onset of lung infections or exacerbations. The adoption of the Activ8rlives suite of products will reduce strain on both health and social services as they move to a public health focus; the treatment of people with complex, chronic illnesses, or multiple long-term illnesses can often be better managed at home reducing costs, facilitating earlier treatment, reducing the need for hospitalisation, improving quality of care and allowing people to remain independent at home.
"The judges’ comments echo similar sentiments received from our volunteer patients enrolled on current clinical trials, saying that the process of personal or self-monitoring has been a really positive impact on their lives and it makes it much easier for them to get on with their life knowing how their health is day to day.”
*About AXA PPP Healthcare & You Awards:
The shift change of technology supporting personal healthcare has resulted in a unique three-way partnership, each with an in-depth understanding of design, health and technology to create the AXA PPP Health Tech & You initiative. AXA PPP Health Tech & You is a joint initiative of AXA PPP Healthcare, which has been helping people to access healthcare services since 1940; 2020health, an independent, social enterprise think-tank with a mission to ‘Make Health Personal’; and the Design Museum, the world’s leading museum devoted to architecture and design in an attempt to put the health technology revolution into a wider context for the benefit of patients and consumers.
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