Artificial intelligence pain assessment app pilot in Gwent care homes

What is the project?

This project piloted the use of an artificial intelligence app to provide baseline assessments of pain experienced by people with limited or no communication in care homes.

The project aimed to create a more accurate understanding of the pain severity that residents are experiencing and tailor appropriate pain management.

The app, which is called PainChek, uses a modern pain assessment framework.

Using a smartphone camera to look at a person’s face, PainChek uses advanced facial recognition technology to assess facial muscle movements indicative of pain when not apparent to the human eye.

PainChek then calculates an overall pain score which can be used to put appropriate and individualised pain care plans in place.

Why was it carried out?

This app could lead to a reduction in the use of medication as it can provide more accurate pain measurements for people with dementia.

Also, getting a more accurate baseline measurement of pain severity can help to reduce the need for one-to-one care, allowing staff time to be reallocated appropriately.

There’s also the potential for a reduction in hospital admissions through improved pain management solutions due to more accurate pain data.

Where and when did the work take place?

This work took place between October 2022 and January 2024.

The technology was rolled out to 13 care homes across Gwent, and staff were trained to use it.

Who was involved?

The project was funded by the Gwent Regional Partnership Board through the Technology Enabled Care Fund.

Life Sciences Hub Wales helped with the collaboration across organisations and stakeholders, as well as providing project management throughout the pilot.

The Assistive Technologies Innovation Centre (ATiC) will provide data collection gathered from the pilot to assess outcomes.

What’s been learnt from the project?

The project has now concluded and PainChek has been adopted in some of the care homes long term.

Care homes in other regions of Wales and in England are also looking to adopt the technology.

ATiC is in the process of finishing its evaluation of the project.

Although the project was initially aimed at people with dementia, it was later expanded to people with a learning disability and mental health problems, which proved effective.