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The CHAT2MA app allows parents to track, report symptoms, and consult remotely for congenital heart disease care.
Babies with complex congenital heart disease could benefit from life-saving help from new smartphone software created by the University of Worcester. The Congenital Heart Assessment Tool mobile app, CHAT2MA, would enable parents to quickly monitor and report early warning signals.
The study is being co-led by Kerry Gaskin of Birmingham City University, the first professor of congenital cardiac nursing in the United Kingdom. She collaborated closely with Dr. Chris Bowers, the principal lecturer in computers at Worcester. Professor Gaskin said, "Improving care for children with congenital heart disease and their families is my passion, so I’m thrilled to be co-leading the development of this app." Through the app, parents will be able to send in actual data from their homes, allowing cardiac nurse specialists to identify patterns and take early action to stop worsening.
Additionally, parents will be able to communicate with consultants remotely through online appointments and texting. Around the world, eight to ten babies out of every 1,000 are born with congenital heart disease (CHD). In 2020, there were 3,250 congenital heart disease (CHD) babies born in England, and 38% of them had severe CHD.
Parents will be able to upload images and share real information through the app before receiving timely help from their cardiology team. The app expands on the popularity based on the paper CHAT diary, which was created in 2012 with assistance from the charity Little Hearts Matter and the families of newborns receiving specialized care at Birmingham Children's Hospital's Cardiology Service.
The app will be a change for both physicians and patients, according to Dr. Tristan Ramcharan, a pediatric and sports cardiologist at Birmingham Children's Hospital. He emphasized that the app will expand the tool's functionality by enabling parents to send data for real-time evaluation by medical personnel. The software is being developed and tested in preparation for its 2026–2027 release.
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