January University of Galway spearheads project to improve regular care during future pandemics

A new research project being pioneered by University of Galway is to develop solutions to ensure the seamless delivery of regular and elective patient care in a health emergency such as a pandemic.

The RAPIDE research project (Regular and Unplanned Care Adaptive Dashboard for Cross-border Emergencies) is being undertaken following the award of a €6 million grant through Horizon Europe and involves a consortium of 13 partners from Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Italy, Slovenia, Malta and Estonia. 

One of the aims of the research project is to set new standards for fostering resilience and preparedness for future health emergencies, including how digital technologies can offer solutions for care in the home and outside of hospitals and clinics.

Researchers will also measure the impact of delayed or unmet care during a health emergency such as a pandemic.

The University of Galway team is led by Professor Máire Connolly, Established Professor of Global and Environmental Public Health at the School of Health Sciences with Professor Jim Duggan, Professor of Computer Science at the School of Computer Science.

Professor Connolly said: “Our research and what we learn from the RAPIDE project will contribute to national preparedness in Ireland and it will also have an impact within the EU and at a global level.”

RAPIDE’s multidisciplinary team of experts in pandemic preparedness, public health, primary care, community care, hospital planning, and computer science will analyse solutions to overcome the challenges of overwhelming patient numbers during a pandemic or health emergency.

The research will look back on the COVID-19 pandemic to measure the impact of delayed or unmet care for conditions such as strokes, heart attacks, diabetes and cancer treatment. It will also assess the delivery of regular care across hospital, primary care and home-based settings. 

Professor Connolly said: "During the COVID-19 pandemic regular healthcare across Europe was disrupted with long-term consequences for patients. The RAPIDE project offers a valuable opportunity to learn from this, to build in healthcare optimisation and forecasting and to create more flexible and adaptable ways to deliver healthcare. It builds on the success of PANDEM-2 project, which was all about developing systems for countries, governments and their health services to plan and prepare responses when the next pandemic hits.

“The RAPIDE research will have applicability for winter surges in hospital admissions due to respiratory illnesses, including influenza and Respiratory Syncytial Virus, or RSV as it is better known. This winter these illnesses have put hospitals under pressure with increased hospital and ICU admissions in children under 5 and adults aged 65 years and over. It is one of the aims of this project to help hospitals plan for such surges.”

Professor Duggan's team will develop a cutting-edge decision support system to forecast surges in demand for patient care during health emergencies.

Professor Duggan said: “Our novel technical solution will use state of the art simulation and mathematical methods to model epidemiological and patient pathways in order to evaluate flexible healthcare solutions. The goal is to help mitigate the impact of increased patient demand during pandemic emergencies. The work will be informed by stakeholder requirements and insights across different healthcare scenarios, including hospital, primary, and community care settings, and in collaboration with partners in the Netherlands, Italy, Slovenia and Malta.”

RAPIDE will also research digital technologies and the impact on home-based care in rural communities, by evaluating progress made during the pandemic on remote consultations and health monitoring, electronic prescribing and health apps. It will also learn from partners in the research consortium, in particular Norway and the Netherlands, which are both very advanced in these areas. 

As the project nears completion, the Global Health team at University of Galway will evaluate performance of the decision support system and hybrid-care delivery tools in a pandemic simulation exercise. Stakeholders including the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the European Commission Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety will take part in the stress test. 

Professor Connolly added: “We also acknowledge the recent establishment of Ireland’s new emerging health threats agency, as announced by Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly T.D. This underscores the importance of building capacity for managing public health threats.”

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