Innovate Health at Tallaght University Hospital (TUH) has been awarded funding of over €300,000 from the HSE’s Spark Impact innovation fund for four projects underway at the hospital, including its award-winning app for patients with chronic pancreatitis (CP).

The SmartCP app allows patients with chronic pancreatitis to be treated at home and to take control of their condition, while also improving communication with the hospital team.

Chronic pancreatitis is marked by long-term inflammation of the pancreas, leading to progressive damage over time. Patients with chronic pancreatitis suffer from debilitating gastro-intestinal symptoms, weight loss and malnutrition.

Research has shown that Ireland has among the highest numbers in Europe suffering from chronic pancreatitis.

The app enables patients to remotely report red flags like worsening malabsorptive symptoms and signs of new diabetes so that appropriate interventions can be applied early to achieve better outcomes.

SmartCP was developed by TUH’s Innovate Health team in collaboration with Technological University Dublin. The project was coordinated by Kevin Conlon, consultant surgeon at TUH and professor of surgery at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), along with Sinead Duggan, senior research fellow at TCD and Marie Egan, clinical nurse specialist at TUH.

The new funding will be used to conduct a digitally enabled patient initiated review (PIR) of the app.

SmartCP app is one of four projects that will share in the overall funding allocation. The other initiatives are an integrated hand and wrist clinic, a personalised medicines approach for patients at risk of stroke, and a prehabilitation programme for patients undergoing elective surgery.

The investment will enable project development, implementation, and scaling of the projects.

The announcement of the additional funding comes just months after the SmartCP app was awarded the Best Innovation Award by the European Association of Hospital Managers.