Background:

There were 6,620 drug related deaths across the UK in 2023. Many would have been preventable had someone recognised and responded to them.

Objectives:

We wanted to investigate the potential for wearable technology to detect overdose and send assistance to the casualty.

Methods:

In this partnership between Cranstoun, Queens University Belfast (QUB), Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) and St Pauls Hostel (SPH), a wearable device was developed to alert staff in the hostel to potential overdoses among the people who live there. Only willing and fully informed participants wear the devices. The hostel is located in the West Midlands region of England.

Commencing in April 2024, Cranstoun funded MMU to provide the devices and alert system to SPH. QUB will evaluate the project across it’s 22 month lifespan.

The devices measure for changes in life-sign indicators such as skin oxygenation and heart rate. When a change is detected the device sends an alert which informs staff in SPH that a particular wearer of the device may be having an overdose.

The devices incorporate machine learning (AI) thereby making them less prone to false positives or false negatives over time.

Results:

The live phase of the project commenced in January 2025 after extensive testing in situ. We expect to have preliminary results by late spring 2025.

Implications:

This innovative approach is one of several currently being trialled across the UK. If ours is successful it may indicate that there is a role for wearable technology in reducing preventable overdose deaths.