Hi, does anyone know how one gets this new smartwatch that is being offered to Parkinson’s patients? It was in today’s Daily Mail newspaper… x
I bet it depends on where you live ?
The same story was in the Guardian. It wasn’t entirely clear but it seemed to imply all PD patients would get one:
If we were all offered one I would want to be very clear about what would happen with all the data collected before agreeing to wear it.
NHS primarily benefitting - good. Big pharma/medical tech/private healthcare primarily benefitting - not so much.
In the Daily Mail, it also said every PD patient would get one, I was just wondering how you would apply for one x
Hi Angela, if we’re all eligible I’d expect either GPs or neurology services that know us to get in touch about it, in time. Maybe that’s naive of me, though?
But I’d still want to know more about the data use before agreeing to wear it.
That kind of information from so many people could help identify new treatments - if so we all should have access to them, since its our information that will make them possible. That’s why NHS needs to be the primary beneficiary.
Re smartwatch: I spoke to my consultant today who said that this is still being trialled and more info out in July. But also said that the newspaper reports haven’t got it quite right. It’s not as simple as handing out watches, there have to be the trained staff to interpret the data from the watches and that training might be time and money not necessarily used in the best way. He reserves judgement on the idea so I think we have to equally wait and see.
I’ve been asked to trial a wearable device which sounds very similar to the one described in the papers for a week in May as an adjunct to another research project I’m involved in. I won’t get any feedback on the results though as it is just being done for research purposes.
Hi . I spoke to my Doctor today. He was totally unaware of the smart watch scheme and even thanked me for the heads up!
Anyway I asked to be added to any roll out , but I am not expecting any time soon.
Smart watch. A trial involving a Smart Watch has been underway for circa 2 yrs. The trial includes a pack of tools. Patients ware the watch 24 hrs for 7 days continuously. The watch is then returned to a team who analyse the information on the watch which records all of one’s movements, You record all of one’s PD drugs at the time of taking. The idea being that the bodies reaction at the time of taking the drugs and subsequent bodily response are recorded and medication changes are able to be more accurately proffered.
The watch is part of a complete package of treatments for the various ailments that one suffers from. The end result if deemed successful will I understand be rolled out progressively across the country but only to willing and suitable patients. I believe we should all ultimately benefit from this approach. THIS IS MY INTERPRETATION OF THE TRIAL.
Rory Cellan-Jones, the ex-BBC technology correspondent diagnosed with PD 3 years ago, writes an interesting blog which is worth following. He wrote about this watch recently and did a follow-up a couple of days later: