Winner
IMPACT Study and Rheumbot
Summary of work
Rheumbot is a groundbreaking service, centred around a chatbot that has been co-designed with families, charities & HCPs to support parents and caregivers of children with chronic rheumatological conditions. Rheumbot is a web application, accessed by parents on their phone, and provides information approved by health care professionals about rheumatological conditions as well as suggesting ideas to help their child or young person. Rheumbot offers a different way of supporting parents, coaching them by role-playing and practicing difficult conversations, such as when important medicine must be taken but has unpleasant side-effects, when exercises must be done every day or how to prepare for injections into the joints of the body. The IMPACT Study is evaluating the usefulness of Rheumbot through an initial pilot with 100 families who are providing feedback on the usefulness, ease of use and functionality.
Judges’ comments
The “IMPACT Study and Rheumbot” was a strong submission, focusing on the IMPACT study and the creation of Rheumbot, an app designed to provide support to patients and caregivers for people suffering from JIA. It was a logical and well-structured phased approach, with significant investment in gathering insight into the design phase in particular. It also demonstrated adaptation to ongoing feedback, such as change from mobile to a web-based application. Overall, impressive results in terms of usability and usefulness, and high NPS. It was great to see the positive response from the academic, clinical and patient community.
