HUNDREDS of pregnant women a year could receive better care for a diabetic condition thanks to a smartphone app made in Oxford.

GDm-health – the gestational diabetes smartphone app – is a joint project of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust (OUHT) and Oxford University.

It is used by patients of the John Radcliffe Hospital to record their blood sugar levels and make comments, with feedback sent from specialists.

Hospital bosses hope it will reduce the need for time-consuming and sometimes expensive and tiring hospital appointments.

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The app was developed using ideas from patients by a research group led by Professor Lionel Tarassenko, head of engineering at Oxford University.

He said: “Our digital health work has now been shown to be clinically useful.

“This outcome has only been possible because of the partnership between engineers and clinicians that exists in Oxford.”

It is thought the research, funded by the Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, could help hundreds of women every year.

Gestational diabetes – a condition where there is too much sugar in the blood – affects about one in 10 women during pregnancy, but there are fears that figure is rising.

Now after a successful JR pilot involving 50 women, the app technology to help treat it is to be rolled out to other hospitals, with help from the Oxford Academic Health Science Network.

A random Oxford University trial involving 200 women is also under way at the JR, with results expected to be published next year.

It could eventually replace the usual method of treatment, which require patients to record their blood sugar levels up to six times a day, with medication adjusted each fortnight.

Vanessa Galli-Wara used the device to give feedback to JR specialist midwife Katy Bartlett and had her first-born Harriet Poppy in the hospital, fit and well, on November 11.

Mrs Galli-Wara was diagnosed with gestational diabetes towards the end of her first pregnancy.

The 47-year-old, of Calvert, near Buckingham, said: “It was good to know that I was in constant touch with somebody and that I would get a message if there was something to worry about. Katy was very kind and helpful.

“Without the kit I wouldn’t have known my results and what my diet was doing to my levels. I would have had to follow a more rigid diet.”

The GDm-health app was in October also recognised at the Quality in Care Diabetes Awards, winning the “best digital initiative” category.

Dr Lucy Mackillop, consultant obstetric physician based at the John Radcliffe Women’s Centre, said: “This is a fantastic accolade and an excellent example of collaboration between the university and hospital.”


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