Combined Healthcare is working with Vancouver’s Cognetivity Neurosciences Ltd to deploy its Integrated Cognitive Assessment (ICA) within our care pathway for patients with suspected dementia. This represents the first use of the ICA within the NHS.
The ICA, Cognetivity’s flagship product and CE-marked medical device software, is a five-minute computerised test of cognitive function, offering numerous advantages over traditional pen-and-paper examinations. Key among these are its short testing duration and classification accuracy, coupled with the absence of a learning effect or any cultural or educational bias. Since the test runs on an iPad, which is easily sanitised, the ICA can also comply with the highest standards of hygiene and infection control so critical during the current Covid-19 pandemic.
The deployment is being overseen in the Trust by Dr Rebecca Chubb, Consultant Old Age Psychiatrist and the Trust’s Clinical Lead for Older People’s Services.
Rebecca said: “We’re very excited by the potential of the ICA to drive improvements in how we assess our patients in the dementia pathway. We’re also excited to be the first Trust using this technology outside a clinical trial, taking the lead on a fantastic piece of innovation that could one day be used in clinics up and down the country.”
Her enthusiasm was echoed by Cognetivity’s CEO, Dr Sina Habibi, who stressed the need for changes in dementia assessment to prevent future catastrophe. “We feel honoured to have the chance to work with Dr Chubb and her expert team in North Staffordshire,” he said. “850,000 people live with dementia in the UK today – a number that is expected to roughly double to 1.6 million by 2040, and effective identification and monitoring of sufferers is key to addressing this massive problem. It is an impending crisis, and yet older people at risk of dementia are among those who have found it hardest to access NHS care in the midst of this pandemic.”
“The ICA’s potential to enhance and increase access to dementia assessment can help to improve clinical outcomes and health system efficiency throughout the UK and beyond and we view this deployment as a major step towards realising that potential.”
About Cognetivity Neurosciences Ltd.
Cognetivity is a technology company that has created a cognitive testing platform for use in medical, commercial and consumer environments. Cognetivity’s ICA uses Artificial Intelligence and machine learning techniques to help detect the earliest signs of impairment by testing the performance of large areas of the brain to support diagnosis of dementia. It has achieved regulatory approval for clinical use in the UK and Europe with future clinical approval anticipated in North America and elsewhere in the world.
For more information, please visit: www.cognetivity.com