A company which provides handheld devices that help people self-manage insomnia has received over £340,000 funding to work with a children’s NHS trust to help children and young people.
SleepCogni has a new Innovate UK grant-funded project in collaboration with Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust to meet the growing challenge of insomnia in children and young people, and enhancing SleepCogni’s AI capability to increase personalisation for children.
SleepCogni’s unique handheld device uses their patented Active-Feedback technology to deliver cues such as vibration as well as light and sound to help insomnia sufferers break the cognitive cycles that prevent sleep. The device also captures physiological, behavioural, and environmental data to help understand what is impacting their sleep.
Nationally, sleep disorders such as insomnia impact up to 25% of children and 35% of adolescents with 43% suffering from insomnia into adulthood.
Prof Heather Elphick, consultant in respiratory and sleep medicine at Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, said: “As a leading children’s sleep clinic with the largest insomnia service in the UK our core aim is to empower parents and children to manage their insomnia using effective behavioural strategies. In our sleep clinic, this is implemented by healthcare staff and the need far outweighs the resources currently available.
“We are always looking for new technology and innovations to support our children, young people and families. We are very enthusiastic about our collaboration with SleepCogni in advancing their innovation.
“We recognise the potential their solution offers to those suffering from insomnia in both adults and children. Pending a successful trial, we are seriously considering the incorporation of SleepCogni’s device into our standard practice.”
SleepCogni’s long-term goal is to reduce NHS waiting lists by offering an immediate initial treatment for insomnia that aligns with gold-standard cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) practices, ensuring patients receive help within a matter of days, while providing meaningful insights into a patient’s sleep struggle to assist clinicians.
By doing so SleepCogni aims to reduce waiting times in the NHS, not only easing the burden of sleep issues on patients and their families, but also helping to free up valuable time for clinicians.
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The collaboration with Sheffield Children’s builds on the back of a successful 80-patient randomised placebo-controlled trial in adults conducted with Sheffield Hallam University which showed that SleepCogni significantly reduced insomnia complaints, from Clinical Insomnia to Non-Clinical levels within seven days. This sets a strong precedent for the upcoming NHS project, which aims to transform the care landscape for paediatric insomnia.
The Innovate UK project aims to test the SleepCogni device in a user experience trial in paediatric patients; optimise the device for the specific needs of children and introduce AI algorithms to enhance the therapy’s personalisation and engagement, providing a novel approach to paediatric insomnia.
The project fits squarely within the continued commitment of Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust’s to pioneer sleep support for children and their families. Building on the success of a ground-breaking paediatric sleep clinic pilot scheme aimed at helping vulnerable children improve their sleep patterns in 2017, the Trust launched a clinic for children’s insomnia and advises on sleep services nationally.
“Industry-led research in the insomnia space holds great promise to impact many in society and we are excited to move to meet the growing sleep challenges facing young people,” said Dr Maan van de Werken, chief scientific officer at SleepCogni.
“The collaboration with Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust marks a significant milestone for us at SleepCogni and it is an area we hold close to our hearts.”