Birmingham and Solihull deploy AI dementia detection tool

Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust has partnered with Cognetivity to deliver an artificial intelligence-powered tool to detect dementia.

The Integrated Cognitive Assessment (ICA) will be deployed across primary and secondary care services operating out of more than 40 sites and serving a population of about 1.3 million patients.

It has the ability to detect dementia up to 15 years earlier than conventional methods, even before memory symptoms present, according to the company.

Cognetivity Neuroscience’s early stage dementia detection test will be implemented to enhance the trust’s current dementia care pathway. It will support the specialist diagnostic process and provide long-term monitoring capabilities in a bid to improve both early detection rates and referral rates.

The next generation test benefits from shorter testing duration, automatic marking and high classification accuracy, in comparison to pen and paper testing. It’s also well placed to serve the UK’s diverse population as the artificial intelligence is free from learning effect and cultural biases.

The introduction of the ICA will be facilitated by interoperability platform provider InterSystems, which already supports the trust’s electronic health records (EHR) systems. It’s hoped this will familiarity deliver seamless interoperability between the ICA and EHRs and reduce the administrative burden on staff while empowering integrated care.

Derek Tobin, associate director at the trust, said: “We’re really excited by the ICA what it can do for our dementia assessment services. We always strive to deliver better value and improved outcomes for our patients, and I am confident that Cognetivity’s technology will help us to do that in this area. I greatly look forward to seeing it at work in the hands of clinicians and patients.”

Dr Sina Habibi, Cognetivity’s CEO, said: ” We feel honoured that the ICA is being deployed at one of the UK’s best and biggest mental health trusts, touching the lives of a very large number of patients.”

“It’s great to see our partnership with InterSystems bearing fruit, because they are already working with NHS organisations all over the UK and many of the most prestigious healthcare systems in the US and beyond. We’re excited to continue making the most of our relationship and getting our revolutionary technology into patients’ hands all over the world.”

Cognetivity was awarded a grant by Innovate UK to trial its technology for dementia in clinical settings at the end of 2019. In May this year the company teamed up with InterSystems to gain additional support for its AI-powered ICA.