HEALTH NOTES

A COMPUTER program is being developed to predict a patient’s mental health crisis before it strikes.

In trials, the algorithm spotted upcoming emergencies, such as the need for a hospital admission, in half of cases up to a month before they occurred.

The researchers, from Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, used seven years worth of anonymised health records to develop the program. In two-thirds of cases, the tech was used to either stop situations escalating or to reduce the case load for emergency medics.

Former NHS psychiatrist Dr Oliver Harrison, chief executive of digital firm Koa Health which helped develop the tech, says: ‘We want to move from reactive care to proactive care.’