Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, inflammatory joint disease affecting around 1% of the UK population. Modern targeted approaches to treating rheumatoid arthritis involve frequent monitoring of the disease focusing on ‘flares’, with the goal of making the disease go into remission or reducing the impact of the disease.
In the UK and US, innovative ways of monitoring rheumatoid arthritis have been implemented using smartphone apps drawing on Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs). These PROMs assess the quality of care delivered to patients from the patient perspective. The aim of this digital technology is to help identify patients who need to be seen by a specialist (eg because they are experiencing a ‘flare’) so that treatment can be delivered in a timely way.
In partnership with the Health Innovation Network South London, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and NHSX, KIS is examining the impact of digital technologies on treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. Specifically, this collaborative project is evaluating the implementation of a remote monitoring service, for patients with rheumatoid arthritis across six sites at three NHS hospitals in south-east London through remote collection of an established PROM from rheumatoid arthritis patients.
Project aim:
To evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the novel remote monitoring model in rheumatoid arthritisoutpatient services across three hospitals in south-east London by exploring: (i) patient and clinician acceptability, (ii) initial clinical, service and cost outcomes, and (iii) implementation support package to help embed and scale the model.
Key objectives:
- Conduct a rapid review of evidence of remote monitoring in rheumatoid arthritis
- Undertake a mixed-methods study of emerging outcomes, including secondary analysis of existing data
- Develop a logic model to determine the programme theory underpinning the remote monitoring service to inform a future evaluation or larger scale trial.
Meet the project team
