New award for SubQ project in epilepsy

UNEEG medical UK has received a £98,405 award from SBRI Healthcare in the UK for a subcutaneous EEG project in epilepsy aimed at people with intellectual disabilities or autism. The award has been given as part of the “SBRI Healthcare Competition 20” which supports projects aiming to find solutions to challenges in Autism and Learning Disabilities.

The funding will be used for a project that will bring together people with intellectual disabilities or autism, and their families, caregivers, and healthcare professionals, to find out how to develop a larger-scale clinical study using subcutaneous EEG within this group.

Over the next 6 months, 6 workshops focusing on these main areas will be completed:
• How to design a study in a way that empowers people with intellectual disabilities or autism to comprehend the need for subcutaneous EEG
• How to ask for consent from those participating in the study
• How subcutaneous EEG could be adopted into current care pathways

The project will be carried out by researchers at University of Plymouth and Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. The overall aim of the project is to ensure that people with intellectual disabilities or autism can access necessary epilepsy care that respects their specific needs.

Having your EEG monitored is a key tool in guiding epilepsy management, but for this group of people, going to the hospital for standard EEG might be both overstimulating, uncomfortable and upsetting. Subcutaneous EEG therefore has the potential to improve the quality of care by allowing them to have the EEG monitored in their daily lives.

SBRI Healthcare is an Accelerated-Access-Collaborative initiative NHS England, supported by the AHSN network and managed by LGC Group. SBRI Healthcare aims to promote UK economic growth whilst addressing unmet health needs and enhancing the take up of known best practice.