Digital Health Research Theme

Our vision is to lead research in collaboration with engineering colleagues, commercial partners and citizens to create health technologies that are accessible for people using health services and their families; and demonstrate evidence of improvements in health, well-being and social care outcomes.

Research interests

Healthcare delivery in 2030 will be vastly different from today. People will be living longer, with multi-morbidity. Integrated care will be central to delivering complex care to this dynamic population and the social context of people’s lives remain the key determinant of how health services are planned and delivered.

Technological innovations will transform the way we diagnose, treat and manage disease. Delivering care closer to people’s homes will be the norm and hospital-based care will be for the seriously ill.

Our research focuses on creating and investigating on technological solutions to improve access and delivery of health care. We are interested in developing personalised models of care that will lead into delivery of patient centred care.

Research areas

Internet of things and technology integrated health care system
Remote monitoring and management of conditions
Digital solutions (apps, wearables, monitors) for patients support
Predictive risk modelling
Digital access to primary/community care services (e.g. electronic medical records and e-consultations)
Digital access and technology use by vulnerable and hard to reach groups.

Methodological expertise

User-led co-design
Behaviour change interventions
Data mining
Predictive risk modelling
eHealth system development
Evaluation and implementation
Creating a living laboratory and simulated environments to provide test beds for new technology.

Research projects

Remote Electronic Symptom Management system - eSMART [Jo Armes and Emma Ream]
Development of an innovative health care system for palliative care in Ethiopia: Co-design and use testing of a mobile phone based remote monitoring system (E-PC) [Nicola Carey]
Web-based self-management to reduce distress after prostate cancer [Sara Faithfull and Jane Cockle-Hearn]
Developing and trialling a life-long approach to promote diabetes self-management amongst adults with type 1 diabetes-DAFNEplus [Debbie Cooke]
The BEAT diabetes program - an online, supported self-management for adults with type 2 diabetes [Debbie Cooke]
Data driven digital decision-making tool for pharmacists to provide a physical assessment and lifestyle prescription for men with prostate cancer [Agnieszka Lemanska]
TIHM: Technology Integrated Health Management [Payam Barnaghi (PI, 5G Centre), Emma Ream and Rahim Tafazolli (from 5G Centre)]
Randomised controlled trial to evaluate electronic symptom management using the Advanced Symptom Management System (ASyMS) Remote Technology for patients with cancers [Jo Armes (PI) and Emma Ream].

Collaborations

The digital health research grouping has a range of multidisciplinary collaborations with patient/public groups, academic organisations and health providers and networks across Kent, Surrey and Sussex, and industry both nationally and internationally. It also contributes to the digital innovation theme of the Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) for Kent, Surrey and Sussex.

Areas of interest for doctoral study

We welcome approaches from people wishing to undertake postgraduate research here with us.

We particularly welcome enquiries in the following areas:

Remote monitoring and management of symptoms in cancer and other long-term conditions
Predictive risk modelling
Decision support systems for healthcare professionals
Biosensing to support improved health outcomes for patients
Online Access in primary care both in terms of patients’ access to medical records or online services, and use by healthcare professionals
Digital systems/solutions to support student and staff mental health and wellbeing.

Please contact Freda Mold (freda.mold@surrey.ac.uk) and Jenny Harris (jen.harris@surrey.ac.uk), our postgraduate research directors, if you are considering postgraduate research.

Publications

Cockle Hearne J, Cooke D, Faithfull S. Developing peer support in film for cancer self-management: what do men want other men to know? Supportive Care in Cancer. 24(4): 1625–1631. doi: 10.1007/s00520-015-2938-8
Foster C, Calman L, Grimmett C, Breckons M, Cotterell P, Yardley L, Joseph J, Hughes S, Jones R, Leonidou C, Armes J, Batehup L, Corner J, Fenlon D, Lennan E, Morris C, Neylon A, Ream E, Turner L, Richardson A. Managing fatigue after cancer treatment: development of RESTORE, a web-based resource to support self-management. Psychooncology. 2015; 24(8): 940 - 949. doi: 10.1002/pon.3747
Kamps L, Cooke D, Haq SM, Barnes DJ. Does continuous blood glucose monitoring (CGM) improve glycaemic control in patients with Type 1 diabetes who have problematic hypoglycaemia or hyperglycaemia? Diabetic Medicine. 2015; 32: 142-144
Maguire R, Ream E, Richardson A, Connaghan J, Johnston B, Kotronoulas G, Pedersen V, McPhelim J, Pattison N, Smith A, Webster L, Taylor A, Kearney N. Development of a novel remote patient monitoring system: the advanced symptom management system for radiotherapy to improve the symptom experience of patients with lung cancer receiving radiotherapy (ASyMS-R). Cancer Nursing. 2015; 38(2): E37-E47. doi: 10.1097/NCC.0000000000000150
Mold F & de Lusignan S. Patients’ Online Access to Their Primary Care Electronic Health Records and Linked Online Services: Implications for Research and Practice. J. Pers. Med. 2015, 5(4), 452-469
Mold F, de Lusignan S, Sheikh A, Majeed A, Wyatt JC, Quinn T, Cavill M, Franco C, Chauhan U, Blakey H, Kataria N, Arvanitis TN, Ellis B. Patients' online access to their electronic health records and linked online services: a systematic review in primary care. Br J Gen Pract. 2015 Mar; 65 (632):e141-51
Breen S, Ritchie D, Schofield P, Hsueh YS, Gough K, Santamaria N, Kamateros R, Maguire R, Kearney N, Aranda S. The Patient Remote Intervention and Symptom Management System (PRISMS)–a Telehealth-mediated intervention enabling real-time monitoring of chemotherapy side-effects in patients with haematological malignancies: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial. Trials. 2015 Dec;16(1):472
Rutsaert P, Barnett J, Gaspar R, Marcu A, Pieniak Z, Seibt B, Lima ML, Fletcher D, Verbeke W. Beyond information seeking: Consumers’ online deliberation about the risks and benefits of red meat. Food Quality and Preference. 2015 Jan 1;39:191-201