SBRI Healthcare, part of NHS England’s Accelerated Access Collaborative, has announced that £6 million has been awarded to 18 innovations designed to improve patient care, save money and support NHS green plans.
SBRI (Small Business Research Initiative) Healthcare is an AAC initiative: a partnership between patient groups, government bodies, industry and the NHS. It is hosted by NHS England and delivered in partnership with the Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs).
11 of the projects have collectively been awarded £1 million to establish technical feasibility, and a further seven projects will receive combined funding of £5 million for the development of prototypes and evaluation before real-world implementation.
The 11 projects to establish technical feasibility include:
- Revolution-ZERO Group Ltd, awarded £83,323 for their ZERO-DECON project. This project aims to remove the current requirement for heating water for washing medical textiles within the UK and globally, addressing one of the main challenges facing healthcare laundry and decontamination services in reaching net zero.
- 52North, awarded £99,790 for their work optimising the Neutrocheck solution. Neutrocheck helps to identify chemotherapy patients at risk of neutropenic sepsis, ultimately aiming to save lives and reduce the burden on emergency care. This project seeks to improve Neutrocheck’s net zero impact and develop carbon-related electronic measures of patient reported outcomes.
- Medisyne Ltd, awarded £100,000 for their work building an environmentally friendly, reusable, computer-based device that can automatically record the amount of urine a patient produces in order to detect complications early.
- AiSentia Ltd, awarded £99,420 for their development of technology to de-carbonise CT imaging by reducing the levels of iodine in hospital wastewater and the wider environment, the amount of packaging needed, as well as the required supply chain.
- Walk with Path Limited, awarded £99,479 for their work assessing the feasibility of a sensor-rich haptic wearable and advanced telemedicine platform to prevent diabetic foot ulcers and reduce carbon footprint through reduction in travel and reduction in the use of disposables.
- Airway Medical Ltd, awarded £99,967 for their project to provide a net zero medical suction device made from renewably sourced bio-polymers.
- Centre for Sustainable Healthcare, awarded £92,984 for a Sustainability in Quality Improvement (SusQI) project that will see more clinicians upskilled to use SusQI to influence pathways and reduce environmental impact of clinical decisions.
- Definition Health Ltd, awarded £99,788 for a study aiming to use the Total Digital Surgery Platform in a pilot of orthopaedic surgery at University Hospitals Sussex to digitise the entire patient pathway from first referral to discharge.
- Labcycle Ltd, for their work developing a solution to sort, decontaminate and recycle single-use plastics in the NHS, and to create a circular plastic supply chain in the healthcare sector.
- HammondCare, awarded £82,377 for their work with the Virtual Dementia Behaviour Support Clinic, which will aim to improve care outcomes and reduce carbon footprint through tailored advice, non-pharmacological and social prescribing approaches.
- Onkohealth, awarded £97,810, for the provision of digital-first programmes of clinically-based behaviour change and coaching, tailored to people undergoing treatment for cancer and condition.
The seven projects receiving funding for the development of prototypes and evaluation before real-world implementation include:
- Apian Ltd, awarded £799,773 for Protect Angel, which uses uncrewed aerial vehicles to deliver greener, faster and smarter healthcare to patients in northern England.
- Primum Digital Ltd, awarded £799,430 for the evaluation of the clinical, financial cost and carbon cost effectiveness of the CrossCover Clinical Pathway Development and Operations Platform.
- Open Medical Ltd, awarded £798,923 for their work with SurgiCare, an environmentally sustainable waiting list management tool set to reduce the carbon footprint of elective surgeries in the UK.
- Revolution-ZERO Group Ltd, awarded £800,000 for their work displacing single-use gowns and drapes with a circular economy service and product offering, with high performance, net zero, reusable and standards compliant alternatives.
- Elegant Design and Solutions Ltd, awarded £800,000 for Envirolieve, a medical device which aims to reduce the amount of Entonox used at the bedside to achieve clinical effect.
- YewMaker, awarded £729,638 for MCF Classifier, a suite of evidence-based tools supporting carbon-informed medicines optimisation and prescription.
- Green Rewards Limited trading as Jump, awarded £576,410, for their staff engagement platform aiming to motivate NHS staff to make lower carbon decisions.
More information can be found here.
