Who are The Microcurrent Site?
The Microcurrent Site Limited was established in 2007 and is the exclusive UK distributor of the Alpha-Stim CE marked class 11a medical devices. The Alpha-Stim AID is proven effective and safe for treatment of anxiety, insomnia, and depression. It has no lasting side effects, no risk of addiction, and no danger of interaction with medications. Treatments are quick and easy and the device is portable so can be used by patients at home.
The Alpha-Stim AID cranial electrotherapy stimulation (CES) device delivers a natural level of microcurrent, via small clips worn on your earlobes, through the brain to stimulate and modulate specific groups of nerve cells. The microcurrent is tiny, just millionths of an ampere, and so gentle that most people don’t even feel it. The patented Alpha-Stim waveform, application, and protocols result in significant anxiety relief, mood normalization, and better sleep.Volumes of research over multiple decades has proven Alpha-Stim is a safe, efficacious and cost effective therapy.
How has The Microcurrent Site improved people’s mental health in the UK?
Over the past few years we have seen our public mental health services come under increasing pressure trying to provide help to the millions of patients who desperately need it. We have introduced to the UK market a clinically proven, safe, alternative treatment for anxiety and depression that people can easily use at home without any risk of the side effects often associated with medication. Working with private mental health practitioners and educating the public on how the Alpha-Stim can help them has already transformed the mental health of thousands of people in the United Kingdom. In 2014 we embarked on a journey working with the NHS and NICE to ensure the product becomes more accessible for patients through the NHS, ensuring many more will also be able to benefit from the treatment.
What has been your greatest achievement to date? And were there any measurable outcomes that accompanied this achievement?
Our greatest achievement is the work done to date with the NHS, culminating in the publication in May 2019 of a 161 patient Anxiety study using the Alpha-Stim AID. The study, lead by Professor Richard Morriss, was published in The Journal of Affective Disorders and was designed to examine the clinical and cost effectiveness of the Alpha-Stim during and after treatment in people with a primary diagnosis of Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) who had not responded to low intensity psychological treatment in a routine health service. Patients had a daily home treatment of CES for 6-12 weeks and changes in GAD, depression, insomnia and quality of life were measured at various stages of the 12 weeks. The measurements were taken again at 24 weeks after 12 weeks without CES to see whether there were lasting changes.
Some key measurable outcomes from the study are;
44.7 percent of patients reached remission on the GAD-7 Anxiety scale after 12 weeks. The remission rate at 24 weeks was 47.8 percent.
45.3 percent of patients reached remission on the PHQ-9 Depression scale at 12 weeks, this increased to 50.9 percent at 24 weeks.
The mean GAD-7 anxiety score was reduced from 15.77 at base to 8.92 at week 12.
The mean PHQ-9 depression score was reduced from 16.07 at base to 8.91 at week 12.
81 patients in the study no longer opted to have High Intensity Therapy after using the Alpha-Stim AID.
In a Health Economic Analysis carried out as part of the published study, the cost effectiveness was examined using a cost minimisation model of direct health costs and showed that introducing the Alpha-Stim CES treatment provided a cost saving of over £540 per patient.
How many organisations/clients currently utilise the service/solution across the UK?
We are working with over 50 Private Mental Health practitioners, including clinicians at The Priory and Nightingale Hospital. We are currently engaged with 4 NHS Trusts and many patients have purchased their own device to self treat at home.
Is there anything you would like to make delegates aware of ahead of the Mental Health 2019 conference on 26th September?
NICE are undertaking a review of the Alpha-Stim AID treatment and will be publishing their initial findings in early September. We have asked for NICE guidance on introducing the Alpha-Stim AID as an alternative treatment for Anxiety Disorders and Anxiety Symptoms in Primary Care.
The per patient Alpha-Stim treatment cost is only £70 – an extremely cost effective option for Primary Care when compared to existing solutions. Alpha-Stim is already approved for use for anxiety, depression and insomnia and is ready for implementation by the NHS today. We have Primary Care teams already using the Alpha-Stim and NIHR funding has been secured for a multi-site RCT treating Primary Care patients with a primary diagnosis of depression starting in October 2019.
What do you feel are the key points delegates need to digest when considering a partnership with The Microcurrent Site?
Alpha-Stim is a well established, well researched, treatment with an unblemished safety record that is available for introduction to Primary Care now. Free training is provided when investing in the Alpha-Stim products and the treatment is extremely cost effective and very easy to administer to patients.
An average treatment program is 8 weeks and patient interaction with NHS staff during that time is minimal, with an initial handover of the Alpha-Stim taking a few minutes and follow up with the patient taking place at 4 and 8 weeks.
At a time where mental health services are under enormous pressure, with long waits for High Intensity Therapy, Alpha-Stim provides a quick, proven, safe and cost effective option that has already been shown to generate savings of over £540 per patient.
Adding the Alpha-Stim treatment into Primary Care will offer a much needed alternative for patients with anxiety who don’t want to use medication, or who haven’t responded to Step 2 interventions and are waiting for Step 3.
The numbers needing Step 3 therapy will be reduced and the waiting times and numbers will therefore come down significantly. This impact has already been proven in the published studies and the remission rates compare favourably with existing treatment options.
The business case for investing in Alpha-Stim is sound. An investment in 100 devices at a cost of less than one CBT therapist will enable an extra 500 patients per year to get treatment for their Anxiety. It will also generate a return on investment in year one of over 300 percent.
If you would like to learn more about The Microcurrent Site please visit https://www.themicrocurrentsite.co.uk/
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