UWE Bristol to lead £1.3 million project to evaluate the use of phone app to help with back pain
UWE Bristol will lead a £1.3 million project to evaluate the effectiveness of using an NHS-recommended smart phone app to help people suffering with low back pain.
The new research project – which will see researchers assess the getUBetter app – is one of seven to have received a share of £7.8 million in funding aimed at bringing new technologies into the NHS to benefit patients.
Led by UWE Bristol’s Dr Alice Berry, Associate Professor in Rehabilitation, the project will assess if the musculoskeletal self-management app helps to improve pain and patients’ ability to engage with daily activities, and whether it offers good value for money for the NHS.
Low back pain affects many people in the UK, restricting their daily activities and accounting for five per cent of GP appointments. Many digital tools exist to support people with low back pain to self-manage their symptoms. However, it is not known how they work for patients and healthcare professionals, and whether they provide good care.
The getUBetter app is already used by the NHS to support people with low back pain. Typically, patients are directed to the app by their doctor, GP practice staff or physiotherapist. A simple registration process connects them to guidance and support throughout the recovery journey, providing them with advice about symptoms, information about what to expect, relevant exercises, goal-setting tools, and referral to local treatments and services.
The funding for the project comes from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), in collaboration with the Office for Life Sciences and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Researchers from UWE Bristol, the University of Bristol, and St George’s University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust will work on the project in partnership with the Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board and getUBetter.
The funding aims to help make the UK a leading testbed for late-stage health innovations. It will allow researchers and companies to generate the evidence needed to achieve full NICE guidance, and to accelerate uptake in the NHS so that patients can benefit sooner.
Dr Berry said: “We are very excited to be leading this work and to receive NIHR funding and support from the Office of Life Sciences to broaden understanding of how digital technologies can be utilised by the NHS.”
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