Scottish care homes are working with researchers on a project using artificial intelligence (AI) and robots to detect urinary tract infections (UTIs).

The government-funded £1.1 million FEATHER project has been developed by researchers at the University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt University. It aims to reduce the number of serious adverse outcomes including kidney failure and sepsis that can result from late diagnosis of UTIs. It also aims to decrease the amount of antibiotics that are prescribed while clinicians wait up to 48 hours for lab results.

Researchers are partnering with Scotland’s national respite centre Leuchie House and Blackwood Homes and Care. “The personal, health and financial cost of urinary infections are massive, costing the NHS at least £500 million last year, devastating people’s lives and adding great complexity to the provision of increasingly complex adult care,” said Mark Bevan, chief executive at Leuchie House.  

Sensors will help spot changes in behaviour or activity levels, such as increased kettle use or a change in walking pace, and trigger an interaction with a socially assistive robot. The FEATHER platform will analyse the data to flag potential infection signs before an individual or carer is aware there is a problem.

 “Understanding how socially assistive AI can be used to better detect UTIs has the potential to improve the health & wellbeing of our customers,” said Colin Foskett, head of innovation and research at Blackwood Homes and Care.  “Early UTI detection could prevent hospital admissions, associated decline and ensure people can continue to live independently for longer.”

Professor Kia Nazarpour, project lead and Professor of Digital Health at the School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, said earlier detection would make timely treatment possible. “As the second most common reason for the prescription of antibiotics, the infection makes a significant contribution to the increasingly concerning problem of drug-resistant bacteria, and there is widespread advantage to society in implementing better diagnosis,” he said.