Integrated use of telemedicine and AI in wound treatment - contributing to public sector financial and environmental sustainability and resilience during pandemics.

英国和全球的医疗成本继续给公共财政带来越来越大的负担，例如2019年NHS预算为1340亿英镑。英国每年有230万个伤口，但治疗时间很长，39%的伤口仍未愈合，因为现有的治疗方法无效。因此，伤口每年花费NHS 173亿英镑，需要2.78亿次敷料更换;这相当于整个NHS预算的12.9%，51，711名全职护士和20，000吨塑料，硅胶，抗菌剂和化学品的医疗废物，而没有获得任何实质性的健康益处。此外，伤口导致患者的个人成本、社会护理成本和生产力损失。Amicapsil是一种易于使用的新型伤口治疗药物，疗效已得到证实。Amicapsil及其使用不涉及有害塑料、有机硅化学品或抗菌剂。在过去的2年里，Willingsford一直支持医疗保健专业人员和私人患者使用Amicapsil。这已逐渐发展成为一种远程医疗方法。该项目将侧重于开发一种基于Amicapsil的远程医疗方法，该方法可以扩展到覆盖英国并随后出口。计算表明，这可以在伤口护理方面每年节省120亿英镑，至少释放40，000名护士从事其他任务，改善患者的生活并降低社会护理成本。远程医疗方法还将在流行病期间提供复原力。此外，Amicapsil及其使用不涉及任何有害化学品、塑料、硅树脂或抗菌剂，而且，通过远程医疗，运输需求将大大减少。该方法将为英国的净零政策和环境保护做出巨大贡献。该平台还将适合出口，为英国创造就业机会和税收。该项目最初将重点关注糖尿病足溃疡（DFU），因为糖尿病患者因Covid-19而面临的风险特别高，只有16%的受感染DFU在前12个月内愈合。2017年，英国有17.4万个DFU，耗资13.7亿英镑;全球每年有超过3000万个DFU。

Cost of healthcare in the UK and world-wide continues to place an increasing burden on public finances, e.g. the 2019 NHS budget was £134 billion. There are annually 2.3 million wounds in the UK, but treatment times are long and 39% remain unhealed because existing treatments are ineffective. Wounds therefore annually cost the NHS £17.3 bn and require 278 million dressing changes; this translates into 12.9% of the entire NHS budget, 51,711 full-time nurses and 20,000 tonnes of medical waste of plastics, silicones, antimicrobials and chemicals without gaining any substantial health benefits. Furthermore, wounds result in personal costs to patients, social care costs and lost productivity. Amicapsil is an easy-to-use novel wound treatment with proven efficacy. Amicapsil and its use do not involve harmful plastics, silicones chemicals or antimicrobials. The past 2 years Willingsford has supported healthcare-professionals and private patients in the use of Amicapsil. This has gradually developed into a telemedicine approach. The project will focus on developing a telemedicine approach based on the Amicapsil that can be scaled to cover the UK and later to export. Calculations indicate that this could provide annual savings in the order of £12 billion in wound care, free up at least 40,000 nurses for other tasks, improve patients' lives and reduce costs for social care. A telemedicine approach would also provide resilience during pandemics. Furthermore, Amicapsil and its use do not involve any harmful chemicals, plastics, silicones or antimicrobials, and, with telemedicine, the need for transport would be greatly reduced. The approach would contribute strongly to the net-zero UK policy and environmental protection. The platform would also be suitable for export, creating UK jobs and tax revenues. The project will initially focus on diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) as diabetics are particularly at risk due to Covid-19 and only 16% of infected DFUs heal within the first 12 months. In 2017, there were 174,000 DFUs in the UK costing £1.37 billion; globally there are annually over 30 million DFUs.