Medtech company PainChek (ASX: PCK) has secured its first disability services operator partnership with Nulsen Group commencing the use of PainChek’s world-first pain assessment smartphone app across five facilities. 

The 6-month trial is the first of its kind for PainChek with commercial terms falling within Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and will enable both parties to improve the detection of pain in situations where patients cannot verbalise their feelings. 

“PainChek is delighted to work with innovative providers across all healthcare settings. Nulsen Group has had the vision to bring PainChek to a new cohort: those living with disabilities who are unable to reliably report their own pain,” said PainChek CEO, Phillip Daffas. 

“Research into pain assessment in the disability market is ongoing, and we are excited to be able to contribute to an improved quality of life for people living with a disability.” 

Although the initial trial will only see the PainChek app deployed across five facilities, Nelsun Group is one of the largest community and disability support operators in Western Australia where they provide care to more 4,000 Australians with complex needs. 

To be used by nurses, support staff and healthcare professionals, the PainChek app is able to assess an individual’s pain levels based on photos and videos taken of their face. Once a baseline is created, repeated images are then run through PainChek’s algorithms to identify differences in a patien’s facial features that are reflective of changes in pain levels. 

“Those with disabilities who are unable to express their pain are the most vulnerable in our society for the misidentification or non-identification of pain. PainChek allows us to trial a new way that could help the disability support sector to further improve their services, and outcomes for these most vulnerable people,” said Nulsen Group CEO, Gordon Trewern. 

Since its rollout, PainChek has primarily been used on individuals living with dementia and cognitive impairments but the Company is exploring further opportunities to apply the tech to patients with delirium and pre-verbal children. 

Earlier in the month, PainChek also announced a collaboration with Ramsay Hospital Research Foundation and Edith Cowan University (ECU) for a research project that will investigate ways of minimising or stopping the progression of frailty in hospital patients.