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Dip UTI smartphone urinalysis launched

A smartphone app to help detect urinary tract infections is now being launched as part of a fast track test and treat service for urinary tract infections (UTIs). The app and the service allow women to test for a UTI and access prescription-only medicine when appropriate without seeing a GP.

The Dip UTI test kit combines the traditional dipstick test used by GPs, a no-mess pop-up cup to collect a urine sample, a proprietary colour-board which ensures a highly accurate reading and the intelligent smartphone app – which is the first technology to transform a smartphone camera into a clinical device equivalent to lab-based analysers.

Using a free app, a virtual nurse will talk her through the test – how to collect the urine sample, how long to dip the reagent strip, when to place it in the colour-board provided, and when to use her smartphone to scan the reagent strip and see the result.

In independent trials, the app and Dip test successfully passed 99.5% of usability tests conducted with people of all relevant ages. Women can now buy the home-use Dip UTI test kit for £10 in any of the participating Boots pharmacy stores across the UK.