In this article we cover the projects that were announced as highly commended in the Health Tech Awards 2020.
HTN would like to say a huge congratulations to everyone involved! If you missed the evening, you can watch the video announcements here.
We would love to hear your thoughts on the awards programme, please take our 1 minute survey here to let us know what you think here.
The highly commended winning entries:
Best use of AI
Vtuls
Vtuls developed an AI and Machine Learning-driven technology to support clinicians and caregivers to monitor vulnerable patients’ vital signs remotely and to respond rapidly to worsening conditions.
Best Use of Data
University Hospital Southampton FT
Through a data driven approach the IBD service has adapted to drive efficiencies and improve patient experiences. This project has reduced the waiting time for an IBD patient to be seen, and has aided the shift from consultant to specialist nurse appointments, with a +64% increase in nurse led appointments in 2 yrs. 71% of outpatient appointments were carried out remotely in 2019, all nurse led.
Draper and Dash
The company developed its Covid-19 Data Driven Modelling and Impact Assessment Tool to support organisation’s responses to Covid-19. It uses an advanced data science to model: global growth curves, testing strategies, health system capacities, patient profiles and R0 rates. Drawing data comparisons to other countries, the model used advanced statistical analysis/AI to determine the progression of the virus.
Tech Project of the Year
King’s Health Partners – Life Lines
Life Lines was created in days to respond to the need to connect families and critically ill patients during COVID-19 and was rolled out across 6 ICUs in London and throughout the UK.
Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust with Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust the Neonatal Telehealth Partnership
The Neonatal Partnership brings together Liverpool Women’s Hospital and Alder Hey in clinically supporting neonates. When Coronavirus struck, both hospitals had to respond effectively and find new solutions for these immediate challenges. The partnership introduced a telehealth solution to support remote clinical decision-making.
Best Health Tech Start-up of the Year
Health-AI – for developing Intelligent Assistants to support drug dosing
In 2018 Leslie Dewhurst asked out loud in Wooburn Green’s coffee shop: “Anyone got a spare kidney?” Receiving an immediate: “Sure, have one of mine!” From Lucy the manager. Subsequently Leslie was able to have a transplant and Health-AI was formed.
After the transplant, Leslie noticed that the unending treadmill of blood samples followed by clinician visits consumed large amounts of precious clinician and patient time and that the whole blood cycle could be humanised and shortened by developing Intelligent Assistants to predict patient drug levels and help both clinicians and patients make better decisions about drug dosing.
Health-AI’s Intelligent Assistants work by combining Big Data about individual drugs with predictive mathematics to inform patients about the likely progress of their drug regime. YellowTail, Health-AI’s latest Intelligent Assistant allows patients at home to self-monitor their drug levels using either a tablet or mobile phone. YellowTail requires no programming or adjustments and for the visually impaired can interact using voice alone.
Major Project Go Live
Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
In four weeks the trust went live with an ePMA system to enhance the safety of how drugs are prescribed and administered to patients.
Liverpool Women’s Hospital NHS Trust and Fortrus
Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust and Fortrus delivered a Paper Free Health Record to provide clinicians with immediate access to patient data at point of care. The digitisation of the health record has led to enhanced patient care, reduced costs, improved security and compliance.
Best Health Tech Solution of the Year
HAS Technology and London ADASS
HAS Technology and London ADASS worked together to repurpose its PAMMS software to enable crucial digital collection and collation of health and social care data to help manage risks on a daily basis across all care settings in its 32 boroughs.
Delivering at Pace
Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership
The Digital Covid Response Group coordinated all partners to support the rapid shift to home working providing solutions on hardware and software, EPR and exchange information systems and supporting families to keep in touch.
Most Promising Pilot
Otsuka Health Solutions and Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust
This pilot focused on identifying and proactively managing the safety of those using secondary mental health services across Mersey Care, whilst overcoming resource challenges in local service delivery. Mental health patients were particularly vulnerable to relapse during the COVID-19 pandemic, and many were also on the shielded patient list.
Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Tyto Care
Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is the first provider in the UK to partner with Tyto Care, a modular device and AI-powered telehealth platform for on-demand, remote medical examinations to provide healthcare to some of our most vulnerable children and young people.
Health Tech Team of the Year
Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust
The trust has saved over 50,000 hours through various digital programmes. The organisation was suffering from multiple inefficiencies, manual paper-based processes and duplicated effort, because of over 100 legacy digital healthcare applications and significant data silos. They worked to streamline and connect existing systems securely, making tasks quicker and reducing wasted time to enable a greater focus on patient interaction.
Partnership of the Year
CITS, CFT Digital Services and KCCG IM&T
Cornwall IT Services and colleagues from Kernow CCG, Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. They went from technology push to user pull almost overnight, and they never want to go back to the old ways of doing things.
Inhealthcare and City Health Care Partnership
City Health Care Partnership and digital health innovator Inhealthcare quickly developed and implemented digital services to support appointment screening, COPD monitoring, reminder services, wound care and care homes.
Best Digital First Project
Gateshead NHS Foundation Trust
The trust developed an in-house referral triage and workflow system, removing paper processes and saving time for staff.
Digital at the Point of Care
Deontics
Deontics developed a Clinical Decision Support platform to create a Covid treatment pathway at the Royal Liverpool Hospital. This has enabled non-specialist clinicians in A&E, step down wards etc. to manage Covid patients effectively according to the evidence base, expanding clinical capacity.
North Bristol NHS Trust for going paperless
The Trust held its medical records in a central record store, costing c.£196,500 per annum. CCube Solutions electronic document management system was introduced to digitise these records and make them available at the point of care when needed.
Digital Primary Care
Medefer
Medefer is an innovative CQC registered virtual healthcare provider that aims to transform the way that healthcare is delivered by enabling healthcare systems to provide patients with the best healthcare experience – timely, efficient and effective.
User-led Innovation and Experience
Blackpool Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust for their Inhouse developed NEXUS CoVID Tracker
The team developed a CoVID Tracker app which allows multi-disciplinary teams access to a digital system to identify, assess and manage CoVID patients in a safe and efficient manner.
Excellence in Engagement and Communications
The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust: Converting paper to digital eforms
The project was part of the trust’s paper-light approach and played an important role in supporting the Trust’s COVID Infection Prevention regime, significantly reducing the volumes of documents and people moving around the Trust.
Efficiency Savings of the Year
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and DrDoctor
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and DrDoctor partnered to streamline follow-up management to enable patients to take greater control of their healthcare, and provide the tools to report symptoms remotely.
Here Care Unbound for saving GPs time with safe delegation of pathology tests
Pathology Go is a suite of digital resources, data tools and eLearning that enables the safe delegation of low risk blood test results to trained and audited administrators. By implementing Pathology Go, the average practice can free up 35 hours of GP time per month.
