New draft guidance published by NICE – the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommends the use of the digital technology ‘QbTest’ to help diagnose ADHD in children and young people.
QbTest is a technology that supports objective assessment within the ADHD diagnosis pathway, helping to supplement clinical judgement by measuring a patient’s attention, impulsivity, and motor activity – the three are core symptoms of ADHD.
Developed by company Qbtech, the technology has been rolled out across England from 2020 as part of our Focus ADHD national programme, led by the 15 local networks.
A total of 79 NHS trusts have adopted the technology since 2020 – around three quarters of all trusts that provide ADHD diagnosis – benefiting more than 70,000 young people.
Evaluation of the technology within the East Midlands showed it can help speed up the time from assessment to diagnosis reduced by an average of 153 days.
This increases staff capacity by reducing the number of appointments needed for diagnosis, and since April 2020 an estimated 20,439 NHS appointments have been freed up across England.
This has saved the NHS an estimated £24m, enabling redirection of resources to other parts of the ADHD care pathway, and is a great example of local change having a national impact.
NICE’s draft guidelines on the diagnosis and management of ADHD were published on 16 July; a consultation is underway and comments can be submitted up to 6 August 2024.
Find out more about the Health Innovation Network’s Focus ADHD national programme and meet Tony Doyle, Managing Director of Qbtech in our ‘Meet the Innovator’ interview.
Dr Cheryl Crocker, interim Chief Operating Officer at the Health Innovation Network, explains the vital role innovation plays to not only reduce waiting lists and improve access to care, but to decrease system pressure by improving people’s health and keeping them well for longer. The new Government has rightly declared its focus on moving the [...]
Launched in 2014, SiSU Health is scaling early warning, self-service health kiosks, digital platforms and pathways into pre-existing healthcare services. The British Heart Foundation estimates the annual cardiovascular disease (CVD) related costs to the UK healthcare system are around £10 billion, with annual costs to the UK economy of an estimated £25 billion. Making the [...]
BEAT HF is the first UK-wide disease awareness campaign for heart failure and is targeted at the public and primary care healthcare professionals. Professor Clare Taylor, Nick Hartshorne-Evans, and Dr Dargoi Satchi developed BEAT to improve awareness of heart failure through early recognition of common symptoms. The acronym BEAT leads to testing using a commonly [...]
