The NHS is to trial a new app-based diagnostic test for kidney disease that will allow more than half a million people considered to be at risk to test themselves at home via their smartphone. It is hoped that allowing patients to do the test at home will improve participation rates, with the NHS reporting that almost half of requests to patients bring a urine sample to a GP clinic go without a response. The result is that early stage kidney disease often goes undiagnosed at the point it can be most successfully treated.

Trials of the system, which is provided by the healthtech start-up Healthy.io, have indicated home testing could prevent as many as 11,000 cases of end-stage kidney disease over the next five years. That could save the NHS as much as £660 million through the avoidance of the need for expensive treatments such as dialysis.

The home-testing scheme is part of a broader NHS strategy to utilise more healthtech tools that use artificial intelligence and other cutting edge technologies. The half million patients that will be invited to make use of Healthy.io’s app will be individuals with diabetes and high blood pressure. Both conditions place sufferers at high risk of also developing kidney disease. They will be contacted by phone and subsequently sent a link by text, from which they will be able to download the app.

Once downloaded, they will receive a home test kit by post, including a sample pot, dipstick and colour chart. The dipstick is placed into the sample and then photographed alongside the colour chart by the smartphone, via the app. A computer algorithm then analyses the visual information before sending the results to the patient’s phone and to the electronic medical record, held with their GP. A reminder call will follow-up on patients that have received the home testing kit but failed to submit results.

Source: The Times

Chronic kidney disease, which sees kidney function decline over the long-term, is a common condition in the UK, affecting as many as one in ten. Treating it costs the NHS £1.5 billion a year, as well as increasing the risk of other health dangers such as strokes and heart attacks. Kidney failure and the need for dialysis and a transplant is the ultimate result.

Symptoms often only appear at an advanced stage, making testing crucial as changes to lifestyle and medication can stop the spread of kidney disease caught early. As a result, high risk groups such as diabetes and high blood pressure sufferers are recommended an annual urine test by the NHS. The test monitors the patient’s albumim to creatinine ratio (ACR), which is an important indicator of kidney health.

But as many as 7 million individuals categorised as high risk do not complete the test. Reasons range from forgetfulness to embarrassment and it being inconvenient to submit the urine sample in person.

During a pilot scheme for the new app run in Yorkshire and Humber, 7 in 10 patients who had previously not taken an ACR test when invited to do so, did when offered the app-based home testing option. Of those who took the new test, one in ten returned results which could possibly indicate early stage kidney disease.

The cost to the NHS is £14.50 per test, including the home testing kit, app, call, postage, follow-up and integration with the patient’s electronic medical record. The cost of treating late-stage kidney disease can run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.