BD sponsors Isla Care’s creation of an AI-powered solution to help tackle the complex challenge of post-surgery wound assessment

Isla enables clinicians and patients to monitor wounds at home, facilitating early detection of infection and providing time and cost savings for healthcare staff and patient

May 2022 – Becton Dickinson, a leading global medical technology company, today announced a [funding] collaboration with Isla Care to further develop the Isla Visual Record for Surveillance. The platform is used after surgery, enabling patients to monitor and share updates of their post-surgical wound healing, by submitting images and monitoring information to their clinician. This cutting-edge, easy-to-use, smartphone-connected solution allows clinicians to accurately monitor the development of surgical site infection (SSI), reducing unnecessary visits to hospital and lowering the risk of late identification of wound infection.[i]

In the UK, it is estimated that one in 20 patients who undergo surgery contract an SSI.[ii] SSIs often occur post-surgery in the part of the body where the surgery was performed -  they increase an individual’s risk of morbidity and mortality.[iii] Patients with an SSI are six times more likely to be readmitted to hospital.1 SSIs are estimated to cost the NHS £700m a year.[iv]

The COVID-19 pandemic has put considerable pressure on hospital capacity and increased the backlog of people waiting for routine care.[v] Alongside this, the events of the past two years have accelerated the use of digital health solutions, allowing clinicians and patients to monitor symptoms and conditions remotely. These solutions can play a role in saving crucial clinical time and improving patient care by eliminating unneeded trips to healthcare facilities.

The monitoring and continued assessment of post-surgical wounds is critical to the early management of infections and aiding recovery. Isla provides clinicians with the ability to monitor their patients’ wounds post-discharge via the secure submission of images and interactive assessment forms by patients. Its visual record and remote monitoring platform allows clinicians to easily and regularly assess patient healing, and to intervene at the earliest signs of infection or wound breakdown. To-date, even at this early stage, Isla has saved patients’ travel time by a total of 8,898km - the equivalent of 310 hours of driving.[vi] It has also reduced the average referral time to a Tissue Viability Nurse, who provides advice on prevention and treatment of wounds[vii], from 103 hours to 27 hours.[viii]

Simon Noble-Clarke, UK Marketing Leader for BD, said: “We are delighted to be collaborating with Isla Care and combining our expertise to create a ground-breaking tool that helps address a costly and time-consuming problem for the NHS and patients. Working with our collaborators to roll out these innovations underpins our commitment to tackling unmet needs, advancing the world of health and improving patient safety.” 

BD and Isla Care’s collaboration seeks to develop the existing Isla platform, creating a tool that employs artificial intelligence to analyse the images submitted to detect early signs of wound infection, flagging those patients who most urgently require review by a clinician. The Isla solution has already been rolled out in 16 NHS trusts across the UK.

Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals are using Isla. Commenting on the benefits of the solution to clinicians and patients, Melissa Rochon, Quality and Safety Lead for Surveillance at the hospitals said:  “Although we are early on in our work to use wound images post-discharge, it is exciting to see how valuable this is already to our patients and the care we provide. We have a fantastic opportunity to reduce the risk of surgical site infection and improve wound healing rates using a proactive surgical wound surveillance strategy”. Support from the Kings Health Partners Cardiovascular & Respiratory Partnership Programme has also enabled the use of Isla across KHP including King’s College Hospital and Evelina London Children’s Hospital.

Commenting on the collaboration, Peter Hansell, Co-Founder of Isla Care said: “We’re excited to be partnering with BD and Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals to take Isla to the next level, helping to increase staff capacity and patients to play a more active role in their wound care. Through this relationship , Isla, BD and Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals are paving the way for proactive remote surgical wound surveillance to become standard practice within healthcare.”

About BD

BD is one of the largest global medical technology companies in the world and is advancing the world of health by improving medical discovery, diagnostics and the delivery of care. The company supports the heroes on the frontlines of health care by developing innovative technology, services and solutions that help advance both clinical therapy for patients and clinical process for health care providers. BD and its 70,000 employees have a passion and commitment to help enhance the safety and efficiency of clinicians' care delivery process, enable laboratory scientists to accurately detect disease and advance researchers' capabilities to develop the next generation of diagnostics and therapeutics. BD has a presence in virtually every country and partners with organizations around the world to address some of the most challenging global health issues. By working in close collaboration with customers, BD can help enhance outcomes, lower costs, increase efficiencies, improve safety and expand access to health care. For more information on BD, please visit bd.com/en-uk or connect with us on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/bd1/ and Twitter @BDandCo.

About Isla Care

Isla Care is an innovative health-tech company, offering a secure platform for the capture, storage and sharing of rich media such as photos, videos and structured assessment forms between patients, carers and clinicians.

This enriched data creates a visual record of a condition over time, allows for remote monitoring and assists clinical decision-making. Founded in 2019 by James Jurkiewicz and Peter Hansell, Isla has grown rapidly and is working with the NHS in Acute, Specialist and Community settings. The platform is a layer on top of and integrated with electronic patient records (EPRs) and is utilised in over 30 diverse use-cases across a range of specialties, including Neurology, Therapies and Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology and Post-Surgical Site Infection monitoring. Isla is leveraging the data submitted into the platform using Computer Vision and Machine Learning to provide clinicians with enhanced insights into patient progress. 82% of patients invited are using the platform and 98% would recommend it to friends and family. Isla is determined to help patients to have access to the most effective and timely care possible, learn more at www.islacare.co.uk.

[i] Rochon, M. Magboo, R. Barlow, C, et al. 2020. Implementing enhanced patient education for surgical site infection prevention in cardiac surgery. British Journal of Nursing. 29(17):994-1002.

[ii] National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, Surgical site infections: prevention and treatment NICE guideline [NG125]. 2019. Available at: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng125/chapter/Context. Last accessed: March 2022.

[iii] World Health Organization. Global guidelines on the prevention of surgical site infection. 2018. Available at: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/global-guidelines-for-the-prevention-of-surgical-site-infection-2nd-ed  Last accessed: March 2022.

[iv] NHS. NHS England Innovation and Technology Payment Technical Notes. 2019. Available at: 190619-ITP-technical-guidance-notes-V2-Final.pdf (ahsn-nenc.org.uk). Last accessed: March 2022. 

[v] The Health Foundation. Almost £17bn needed to clear backlog and treat expected rise in patients needing NHS hospital care. 2021. Available at: https://www.health.org.uk/news-and-comment/news/almost-17bn-needed-to-clear-backlog-and-treat-expected-rise-in-patients. Last accessed: March 2022.

[vi] Data provided by Isla Care January 2022.

[vii] Pagnamenta, F. The role of the tissue viability nurse. Wound Essentials. 2014;9(2):65-67.

[viii]  Isla Care. Isla case study Central London Community Health Trust. Available at: https://www.islacare.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/CLCH-case-study.pdf. Last accessed: March 2022.