Traditionally, this type of monitoring has required hospital stays, where the unfamiliar environment, disrupted routines, and the equipment itself can make sleep difficult for children. These challenges may alter their usual behaviour and affect how representative the recordings are. To address this, a clinical team at King’s Health Partners, including the co-investigator of this project, Dr Joel Winston, has implemented a home-based alternative.

From hospital wards to home environments

Home video-EEG has been shown to maintain diagnostic accuracy while reducing costs by one third and improving the experience for families. This shift not only eases the burden on families but also supports more naturalistic monitoring, particularly during sleep, a critical time for capturing seizure activity.

To further explore the unique potential of home video-EEG, this project is testing whether 1) its clinical value varies according to each patient’s medical complexity, such that we could offer this service in a more personalised way, and 2) whether the sleep information (even in the absence of any seizures) could better characterise neurological health, so that diagnoses and referral to appropriate therapies is faster. To do this, the project

integrates anonymised data from over 450 home VT recordings with routinely collected health records. This comprehensive dataset is enabling researchers to investigate how sleep EEG captured in the home can provide new insights into epilepsy diagnosis.

Harnessing ‘big data’ for paediatric neurology

By leveraging King’s Electronic Records Research Initiative alongside the Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust Electronic Records Research Interface, the team is building a scalable, reproducible infrastructure for EEG analysis in paediatric populations with complex needs, informed by Dr Kimberley Whitehead’s involvement of those with lived experience of paediatric EEG monitoring. This data-driven approach embodies King’s dedication to frugal innovation - leveraging existing data and technology to deliver better, more accessible care.

Collaboration and impact

This multi-disciplinary effort draws on expertise from King’s Health Partners, the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, clinical neurophysiology, and data science. Outputs so far include a poster presented at the inaugural Epilepsy Research Institute Conference in May 2025, and a short talk at the King’s Better Health & Care Hub event in September 2025 The results presented demonstrated the first evidence specifically looking at the effectiveness of home-based EEG monitoring in children and young adults with medical complexity. The team found that the test is just as feasible in this population, and in fact has a higher diagnostic yield. This offers proof of concept that we could select EEG diagnostic pathways in a more personalised way.

A previous researcher on this project, Jayvian Mavi, and Dr Whitehead, have also written a forthcoming book chapter on the value of using paediatric EEG in real-life settings like the home, aimed at educating clinicians and researchers about this important new frontier for naturalistic brain monitoring (publication due spring 2026).

The project is also engaging with the public about EEG research. During London Data Week, a festival backed by the Mayor of London and The Alan Turing Institute, Dr Whitehead and Dr Lili Golmohammadi hosted a session at the London Institute for Healthcare Engineering to gather community feedback on how to explain and use these data . Building on this, Dr Whitehead recently co-produced a guide for understanding and using these and other bioelectrical health data. This public involvement has been showcased by King’s Health Partners, and use MY data (the only independent patient-led movement focused on the use of health data to improve outcomes), via their newsletters. This involvement work connects directly with the Better Health & Care Hub project by helping patients, families and the public understand how bioelectrical data can be harnessed for clinical benefit, and shape research priorities by providing their own ideas about what is important to them

Cross-disciplinary collaboration and future research leaders

The project exemplifies King’s commitment to spearheading research and education by bringing together clinicians, neuroscientists, and data scientists to leverage their diverse expertise, a driving principle of the DHATA research division from which this research is led. Dr Whitehead presented this project to the Director of Bristol Health Partners during his visit to King’s in July 2025 to exchange knowledge about cutting-edge health innovations between regions. These collaborations are driving innovation in diagnostic pathways and helping to train the next generation of biomedical researchers. For example, Jayvian Mavi, who worked as a research assistant on this project, went on to secure an MRC PhD fellowship at Birkbeck, where he will continue advancing research into complex aspects of brain health and functions.

Looking ahead

With seed funding from King’s Better Health & Care Hub, the project has completed its initial data collection and infrastructure and is pursuing further funding to expand analyses and translate findings into improved clinical pathways. The team are also offering related PhD projects within schemes funded by the MRC and EPSRC.

Dr Whitehead also uses the health data science, and families and patient involvement experience, gained during this and related projects to inform her education provision within the King’s MRes Clinical Research and MSc Clinical Research Delivery. This ensures that King’s students benefit from the seamless ties between research and teaching within the University.

Significantly, ongoing patient and family involvement continues to guide the research, ensuring that outcomes remain closely aligned with the needs and experiences of those it aims to serve.

By enabling earlier, more accurate diagnosis and tailored therapies, this work promises to improve outcomes and quality of life for children with complex neurological conditions, their families, and the health services that support them.