The MiCode can be stuck onto any clothing or bag to be accessed in an emergency (Image: NC)
Simon Day has created some of the most memorable characters in recent British comedy history: among them competitive dad, inspired by a father in his local swimming pool thrashing his kids in a race, and eco warrior Dave Angel, “loosely based” on Mike Reid.
His latest role also has its roots in personal experiences too. Step forward James Ohene-Djan, a long-standing friend of The Fast Show star. James was a carer for his brother, Tony, who suffered from multiple sclerosis.
After Tony experienced difficulties in accessing the right sort of emergency care, James – a professor of computer science at Goldsmiths University – and his sister Louise, a professor of pharmacy education at University College London, came up with a game-changing new device called MiCode.
As Tony’s life with MS neared the end, he became incapable of communicating with healthcare workers. This often rendered them unable to give him the correct critical care in time.
The complex health needs of their brother, and his inability to communicate properly, left James and Louise the only contact points across the health and social work teams. They were desperate to improve the chances of patients and to help emergency responders in future by ensuring people always have medical information with them.
Then they realised it could be carried digitally and they came up with MiCode, a barcode that can be stuck on to any item of clothing or bag and easily read byemergency workers.
Closer to home, Day, now 62, has first-hand experience of the worry of looking after loved ones who may not be able to speak for themselves when it matters most.
“My father-in-law has Alzheimer’s and my mum is now moving into Alzheimer’s. But they’re the lucky ones in that they have care,” he explains.
Now he hopes to raise awareness of MiCode, which he believes could help change the outcomes of countless patients in life-or-death situations – especially those suffering from dementia or other conditions that make communication difficult.
A study found the majority of UK adults (56%) do not carry vital emergency details – leaving themselves and their loved ones vulnerable in a crisis, according to new research.
The majority of Britons don’t know their loved ones’ allergies (63%) or blood types (77%). Yet it can take up to 10 minutes – and sometimes longer – to access vital emergency information.
But now a simple barcode listing an individual’s medical requirements could be stuck on to any item of clothing or bag to be accessed in an emergency.
“It’s such an incredible idea,” enthuses Day, an ambassador for MiCode. “When James was telling me about it, I couldn’t believe it hadn’t been done before. I kept saying, ‘Surely someone’s done it already.’”
Simon Day is urging people to carry the MiCode to protect them in an emergency situation (Image: Steve Ullathorne )
Astonishingly, it had never been done before. Itis now hoped MiCode could have a transformative effect on millions of families.
“There are hundreds of thousands of people who live on their own and just wander off. They get these ideas. They think, ‘I’m just going to go and clean out the barn,’ or, ‘I’m just going for a walk across the field,” says Day. “You can get quite a long way, especially if you’re driving. But no one knows who these patients are or what’s wrong with them. However, if they’rewearing a jumper with MiCode on, it’s all there – bang!
“The emergency services, as we know, are completely overwhelmed and people have got all kinds of different complex medical issues. But the responders can call up the emergency information from MiCode.
“It tells them everything. They know exactly what medication to give the patient, or where to take them, or who to call.”
The project is currently being trialled across the UK. To ensure the technology is suitable for use in the NHS, the company is working with Great Ormond Street Hospital and North West London NHS trust.
It is also being used by the British Taekwondo team to enhance medical safety during competitions and training. It costs £2 a month or £20 for the year. This includes the complete MiCode package of bracelets, pendants, keyrings, stickers, lanyards and a digital version for printing.
No special barcode reader is required. MiCode uses QR codes, which emergency responders can scan using any smartphone or tablet camera.
Day continues: “You can put MiCode on anything. You can put it on a cardigan, on a badge, on a cap.” This invention could be especially significant and timely, as there are now one million people living with dementia in the UK.
The comedian, who is married to Ruth and has two children, is more than happy tolend his name as an ambassador for such a good cause.
“It feels very nice to be involved in something like this,” he continues. “I had no role in developing the mechanics of it, but I’ll do whatever I can to help. I’ll go anywhere, do any chat show. It’s just a no-brainer, isn’t it?”
Professor James Ohene-Djan devised the MiCode device after acting as a carer for his relatives (Image: Supplied)
He goes on to praise the altruism of his friend in realising this groundbreaking idea. “James is one of those people who just thinks aboutother people.” With a chuckle, Day adds: “That’s why he can be friends with me – because I’m a standard, self-serving, self-obsessed comedian.”
When it comes to his other mission – to put a smile on people’s faces – he explains why he believes The Fast Show, more than 30 years after it was first broadcast, remains so widely adored.
“Because of the internet, a lot of people have seen the sketches. Also, TV comedy has become fractured. No one really can turn a terrestrial channel on to watch a comedy show any more.”
Day, in an uncomfortable moment of pride, reveals: “Without blowing our own trumpet, I think it was a really good show, and people still just love it. We only ever did three series. We quit while we were ahead. We didn’t rinse it and carry it on for too long.
“It’s like a band, isn’t it? You don’t know if a band will be any good. There’s no particular reason. But you get everyone together, and it just works.
“There were no Oxbridge people involved in The Fast Show. So, it was a change in that there was a lot more contemporary and pub-based material.
“There were no jokes about bishops and judges and that sort of Monty Python stuff. It just caught on and became what they used to call ‘water-cooler TV’.”
He adds: “There’s been a bit of a 90s revival. It just represents a time in people’s lives when they were happy. Maybe they were at school or at university. It just stands as a happy time. The country was in a much better state back then.”
Alongside co-creators Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson – and comedic stars Arabella Weir, Mark Williams, John Thomson, and the late, great Caroline Aherne, who sadly died of cancer in 2016 – Day tapped into the public consciousness with a host of oddballs whose famous catchphrases are still regularly parroted up and down the country. In just three short years,they transformed the face of British comedy.
An Evening With The Fast Show will be touring the country in the autumn. It promises to be the live comedy event of the year – and Day teases the possibility of further tours of The Fast Show after those dates as well.
“Apart from Paul and Charlie, we would all love to do more tours,” he admits. “We’d probably be touring now, but for the fact that Paul is on tour with Only Fools [and Horses the musical]…and he’s doing his fishing show, and he’s also doing a podcast.”
The comedian delights in the shared experience of live theatre: “That’s the thing you have to remember. It’s not about you. It’s about people going home having laughed their heads off. That’s really joyous.”
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BY PROFESSOR JAMES OHENE-DJAN
My brother Tony inspired me to develop MiCode. He had multiple sclerosis, and my sister Louise and I looked after him in the last few years of his life. What we found was that there was never any emergency medical information available at the right time.
So if he was taken into hospital late in the evening, they wouldn’t know basic things like his blood group, his allergies, and also more complicated things to do with his MS. He had some quite bad experiences when people just didn’t know what was wrong with him.
On several occasions, they took him into hospital and they thought that he was epileptic. But he wasn’t. It was just a side effect of his particular version of multiple sclerosis. It was really, really difficult for him to communicate.
That was one of the really important things with making MiCode. A lot of people have real communication problems when they’re in an emergency.
They would take Tony to hospital at two o’clock in the morning. But they couldn’t speak to him. The worst thing was they didn’t have his emergency contacts. So they didn’t know who to call and who could speak on his behalf. It would normally take them quite a long time to get that information. If it was at night, it was terrible.
On a couple of occasions, they gave him epileptic medicines that he shouldn’t have had. Giving powerful epileptic medication to somebody like Tony, who was quite weak, especially towards the end of his MS, and who couldn’t walk or talk, is a very dangerous thing. It could lead to a life-threatening situation.
So, without a doubt, being able to have the right information with you in emergencies is really, really important. And so what Louise and I thought was, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way that you could store emergency contacts, medical information and other files in a little personal space? That would help the emergency services to be able to give people the kind of attention they require at the time that they need it.’ So my brother and his multiple sclerosis were the inspiration behind MiCode.
Now the crucial thing is helping people in the future. For example, if you have got a young child who has haemophilia, being able to treat that child quickly with the right information can save their life. Yes, MiCode would have been great for Tony. But what I think is more important now is the next Tony.