University Hospitals Plymouth begins digital prehab trial

University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust has signed a one-year contract with telehealth company QuestPrehab to deliver digital ‘prehabilitation’ services to liver patients.

Prehabilitation (prehab) focuses on improving the general health and activity of patients before surgery or treatment as a way of aiding their recovery.

Under the trial at the South West Liver Unit, which began on 5 July 2024, 50 patients waiting for liver transplants in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset will given access to digital programmes via the QuestPrehab platform.

The programmes include exercise classes and support sessions developed with the hospital team to cater to patients’ clinical and holistic needs.

Professor Matthew Cramp, consultant hepatologist at the South West Liver Unit, University Hospitals Plymouth, said: “Liver transplant patients face many challenges and to be able to provide a personalised prehab service while they wait for their surgery is something we’ve been keen to offer for some time.

“Having the consistency of supervision by a prehab specialist we hope will lead to a lower risk of complications post-transplant and improve quality of life both pre and post-operatively”.

The 12-month trial will focus on reducing anxiety levels for patients and improving their liver frailty scores.

It aims to explore the feasibility of remote delivery of prehab and the benefits it can offer patients during their waiting time for transplants.

If successful, the service may be expanded to patients living with other liver diseases and who currently are not on the transplant list.

Professor Tara Rampal, founder of QuestPrehab, said: “Waiting for a liver transplant is an extremely anxious time for all patients.

“They face the uncertainty of when they will be called up for the transplant whilst also dealing with the consequences of advanced liver disease and the worry that their condition may deteriorate during this time”.

She added: “Patients will receive a highly personalised programme based on four key areas – physical activity, anxiety management, diet advice and lifestyle modifications – with a goal of alleviating their level of anxiety and improving their liver frailty score”.

The trial will be evaluated through standardised patient reported outcome measures and physical assessment scores.

QuestPrehab announced in February 2024 that it had won a contract to provide digital prehab services to two hospitals in China.

Meanwhile, One Wirral CIC launched a diabetes prehab service in November 2023, which uses a population health management system on the Graphnet Health platform.

Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System announced in September 2023, that it had signed an agreement with tech provider C2-Ai, to expand its waiting list initiative which includes a prehab programme for patients at risk of deterioration.