COVID Oximetry @home was a collaboration between clinical teams, managers and academic partners and involved significant contribution by the University's IT Innovation Centre, based in Electronics and Computer Science (ECS).

The project was awarded the Health Service Journal Patient Safety Award 2021 (HSJPSA) and computer scientists from the IT Innovation Centre played a significant role in the capture and use of data vital to the success of the programme.

During the first wave of COVID-19, it was recognised that people were arriving at hospital and were dying because they were in a more serious condition than their symptoms suggested. Their oxygen saturation levels had fallen to dangerously low levels - called silent hypoxia - without there being noticeable difficulties when they were breathing.

The COVID Oximetry @home project was the rapid expansion of the initial Remote Community Oximetry Care (RECOxCARE) project where the oxygen levels of COVID-19 patients across the south east were measured remotely in a virtual ward programme that allowed clinicians to spot early deterioration, initiate timely escalation and reduce mortality risk.

Pulse oximeters were provided to patients who had been diagnosed with coronavirus and were most at risk of becoming seriously unwell. As the pandemic continued, this patient self-monitoring pathway was rolled out nationally by the COVID Oximetry @Home scheme.

Dr Matt Inada-Kim, National Clinical Lead Deterioration and National Specialist Advisor Sepsis, NHS England and NHS Improvement, and Emergency Consultant at Hampshire Hospitals Foundation Trust, said: "The University of Southampton have been critical in assisting data capture, establishing data sharing agreements and collating the evidence to rapidly stand up national policy on admission criteria in COVID and home oximetry monitoring and evaluation of its effectiveness."

Professor Michael Boniface, Director of the University of Southampton IT Innovation Centre, and leader of the RECOxCARE digital work stream, said: "The technology to remotely observe oximetry, vital signs and symptoms is relatively straight forward, but rapidly integrating observation data into safe clinical processes and across different primary and secondary clinical context raises significant challenges of interoperability and timely access to data needed for direct care."

The HSJPSA judges' citation said: "The judges felt that this was an outstanding example of a true system wide collaboration. This project not only touched the UK but positively impacted people's lives across the world.

"The outcomes were positively overwhelming in relation to lives saved, bed day reduction and early admissions which improved mortality and morbidity rates. It was clear that this approach contributed heavily to the prevention of the NHS becoming overwhelmed during the pandemic.

"The patient testimonial demonstrated the real impact to individuals and added value to the presentation coupled with the passion and authenticity of the presenters."

A paper evaluating the clinical outcomes of the project has been accepted at the British Medical Journal Open Quality. Read the paper here.

Professor m.c. schraefel has become the first Southampton academic to be made a Distinguished Member of the world's largest computing society, the ACM; Professor Stephen Beeby has been elevated to a Fellow of IEEE, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers; and enterprise expert Virginia Hodge has been appointed as a Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence in ECS.

Professor m.c. schraefel was recently recognised by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) as a Distinguished Member for her outstanding engineering contributions to computing. She is the first University of Southampton academic to be awarded the prestigious accolade and is one of only three ACM Distinguished Members from the UK.

She said: "This award is very special because six people, all respected scientists and engineers from around the world whose work inspires me, stood up for me in this nomination. That is wonderful, humbling and awesome."

In ECS, m.c. is Professor of Computer Science and Human Performance and Director of the WellthLab. She is also a Fellow of the British Computer Society, is a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Chair Alum and currently holds an EPSRC established career fellowship in Health Resilience Interactive Technologies. m.c. was selected for the award for a range of accomplishments that advance computing as a science and a profession.

ACM President Professor Gabriele Kotsis said: "Each year we are excited to recognise a new class of ACM Distinguished Members both for their professional achievements, as well as their longstanding membership with ACM. The Distinguished Members program is a way to celebrate the trailblazing work of our members."

Professor Stephen Beeby Stephen has been awarded the international accolade of Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) for his world-leading and high-impact research on energy harvesting and its application in e-textiles.

The award recognises Stephen's support to the research community and his contribution to the successful University spin-out company Perpetuum Ltd, based upon vibration energy harvesting. His work on e-textiles has led to the award of the Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Technologies in Electronic Textile Engineering.

Stephen, a member of the Smart Electronic Materials and Systems (SEMS) research group said: "I am delighted to have been elevated to a Fellow of the IEEE. This recognises the impact of the research carried out in ECS over many years in the areas of energy harvesting and electronic textiles and this achievement would not have been possible without the contributions of my exceptional research team and colleagues."

The IEEE is the world's largest technical professional organisation for the advancement of technology. Read the full story here.

Virginia Hodge Enterprise expert Virginia is helping turn ECS research into commercial success as a Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence (EiR). The former Vice-President of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) is embedded in ECS's teaching and research activities while serving as a Resident Mentor at the on-campus Future Worlds startup accelerator.

Virginia has spent more than 30 years working in highly technical areas of software and systems engineering, primarily in the defence and aviation industries. In her EiR role, she has been giving guest lectures for students and staff, reviewing bids with an industry eye, demonstrating how the commercialisation of software can be improved, mentoring, and acting as an interface between academia and professional bodies and supporting diversity initiatives within ECS.

She said: "The EiR role has introduced me to the breadth and depth of ground-breaking research carried out at the University and especially within ECS. As both an EiR and prior to that as resident mentor at Future Worlds, I've greatly enjoyed getting to know the University community and meeting entrepreneurially-minded staff and students doing world-changing things. The University has a brilliant culture of enterprise and I'm enjoying expanding upon my work with Future Worlds and ECS to further promote and support entrepreneurship."

Read the full story here.