New campaign transformed care residents quality of life

A new campaign has been launched by a digital pain assessment service, which showcases how smart technology can relieve the amount of pain patients suffer when they are too unwell to say anything themselves.  

Launched in 2016, PainChek, is the world’s first regulatory cleared medical device for the assessment of pain of those who are unable to self-report it. Following the technologies success, the global company has launched a movement to highlight their accomplishments in helping people manage and identify any discomforts.

Stories that feature in the campaign can come from people directly affected by pain, their loved ones, or caregivers.

The latest story to reach the project – known as ‘Managing Pain, Improving Lives’ – comes from John, whose name has been changed to protect the patients identity. He is a 90-year-old who claims his life has been ‘transformed’ since his joint pain has been assessed effectively.  

Living full-time in a care home, John suffers with dementia, and like many others living with the disease, he experiences osteoarthritis-related pain – a condition that causes joints to become stiff. Without appropriate treatment, the condition can withdraw people from their daily activities and due to John’s cognitive limitations he was unable to self-report the discomfort he was experiencing.

However, since health workers in John’s care home – located in Staffordshire – began using the digital pain assessment tool, they have been able to identify when he is experiencing discomfort, thus proactively reducing the amount of pain he experiences.  

Philip Daffas, CEO and Managing Director of PainChek, said: ‘Pain is deeply personal and multifaceted experience, and affects people in different ways. Across all care settings, there are multiple people involved in the process of managing a person’s pain.

‘The ‘Managing Pain, Improving Lives’ campaign shines a light on all those affected by pain, whether it be the individual themselves, their loved ones, or their caregivers.’

As well as helping patients in care homes, the PainChek device is also accessible to people living at home. According to a National Awareness Campaign from The British Pain Society, pain is the most common reason people visit their GP and effects one in four people.

Against this backdrop, the smart technology could reduce a number of hospital admissions as pain could be identified and treated at home, relieving pressure that has been placed on the NHS due to hospitals struggling to free up beds and severe staff shortages.

In addition this this, a local MP from Northamptonshire has also admitted that technology could help discharge patients from hospital quicker. Dame Andrea Leadsome, paid a visit to the Oysta office earlier this year and claimed that due to advanced technology patients were being let out of hospital at a rapid rate, implying this could be the new way forward. 

The device, which relies on facial recognition and smartphone technology to conduct pain assessments, is currently being used in over 1,500 aged care facilities, with more than two million digital pain assessments completed to date.    

Photo by Dominik Lange and Aarón Blanco Tejedor