World-leading behavioural scientists at the University of York and Hull York Medical School have distilled decades of expertise into developing a cost-effective and scalable solution to one of humankind’s most urgent health problems – loneliness.
The idea for ThirdAgeTx was born during the dark days of the COVID pandemic. The academic team and NHS partners wanted to address an emerging epidemic of loneliness and depression among older people.
Using a highly structured, evidence-based approach known as behavioural activation, they designed a programme of weekly telephone-based support sessions. The sessions were targeted at maintaining social connections and improving mood.
Crucially, the people trained to deliver the care didn’t need to be highly trained NHS psychologists. This made the intervention more scalable, since it enhances the ability to meet high levels of demand.
In the largest clinical trial of its kind, the solution proved to help prevent loneliness, depression and anxiety. Studies found that phone calls from a coach over a period of eight weeks to help older people work on a personalised action plan improved their mental health and quality of life.
Professor Simon Gilbody, Founder and Chief Medical Officer said: “Tele-healthcare works brilliantly for older people and means they can access psychological care in their homes and at a time that suits their needs.”
The potential impact
Though the COVID pandemic has passed, the epidemic of loneliness remains. In fact, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has identified the issue as one of the greatest threats to human health.
The impacts of loneliness on physical health and life expectancy are comparable to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Loneliness is a ‘silent killer’, since it increases the risk of dementia, strokes and heart attacks. Care home and hospital admissions are more common, and loneliness causes delays in discharge. This costs the NHS billions of pounds.
Founder Professor Dean McMillan said: “During the pandemic, we saw our own relatives become increasingly isolated, despondent and frail. As researchers, that was a huge motivator to find a solution.
“What we’ve designed passes the friends and family test. If it had been available at the time, we’d have accessed it for our own parents.”
The collaborative journey to ThirdAgeTX
ThirdAgeTx is 20 years in the making. Founder Professors Simon Gilbody and Dean McMillan had previously established a successful research group at the Department of Health Sciences at University of York and Hull York Medical School.
Their track record involves working in partnership with the NHS and older people who are ‘experts by experience’. Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys [TEWV] NHS Foundation Trust have partnered with the university in the spinout. They were the lead NHS organisation for the research funded by the National Institute for Health & Care Research [NIHR]. The Director of R&D at TEWV, Professor David Ekers co-led the research programme and is strategic NHS advisor for ThirdAgeTx.
ThirdAgeTx was launched to enhance the availability of their foundational research and is the first mental health spin out from the University of York. The research that underpins their spinout comes from £2.6million in support from NIHR and involves a collaboration between York, the NHS, and the universities of Leeds and Keele.
Northern Accelerator support
Simon and Dean turned to Northern Accelerator to support the diffusion of their solution and signed up to the Future Founders programme to develop crucial business skills, a peer support network and other new connections.
Dean said: “I cannot speak highly enough of the programme. It’s taken us from being curious about spinouts to being able to set up a viable business, articulate what we do and pitch for investment.
“We’ve learned how to deprogramme ourselves as academics. If we’d carried on thinking like academics in a start-up environment, we wouldn’t have got far but we’ve learned a new language, a new way of thinking and identified lots of transferable skills.
“We feel utterly reinvigorated by the journey.”
What’s next?
ThirdAgeTx is now exploring market B2B and B2C opportunities. It has connected with the regional start-up ecosystem and health-innovation networks in the North.
A series of case studies are in development to attract further investment to scale up work over the next six months. The team is working in partnership with Health Innovation Yorkshire and Humberside to take this to the next stage.
They will continue to build on strong links with the NHS and Social Care, exploring opportunities to roll out its solution to the care home sector in the first instance, to improve the mental health of residents.
Simon said: “Our ambition is big. We have an evidence-based solution to a global problem. There’s nothing like this on the market or in the NHS, and we have an innovative product that’s ready to go. Now we have the skills to make it happen.”
