'Urgent Words' smartphone application

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    'Urgent Words' smartphone application

  • IRAS ID

    278942

  • Contact name

    Roger Barker

  • Contact email

    rab46@cam.ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST and THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    0 years, 4 months, 1 days

  • Research summary

    An app has been developed to assist patients' decision making concerning post mail and email. The app is designed to enhance good decision making to allow the user to live autonomously, for longer. The app is not a medical device as defined within the MHRA flow chart, and confirmed by the MHRA team via devices.regulatory@mhra.gov.uk.

    The impetus for this app came from a previous research project which suggested that some patients with neurodegenerative disorders do not effectively manage multiple pieces of information. Anecdotal evidence also suggested that these patients are subject to being defrauded through mismanagement of post mail and email.

    The application is used to take or upload a photo. The photo is then scanned for specific words that have been deemed high risk, for example, "fraud" or "credit limit". The user then receives a summary of the findings, and sees the high risk sentence highlighted in their photo. The photo is not stored and any record of it is deleted immediately after the summary has been generated. The user can choose to share the summary with a single pre-designated person, e.g. a carer or trusted family member.

    Several focus groups will be organised to discuss the app and its need with patients from the Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair NHS HD Clinic. Patients will then be given the option to test the app at home for two weeks before completing a questionnaire about their experiences, its feasibility and usefulness.

  • REC name

    Social Care REC

  • REC reference

    20/IEC08/0012

  • Date of REC Opinion

    15 May 2020

  • REC opinion

    Unfavourable Opinion