£3.9 million has been awarded to nine innovations that support the delivery of urgent & emergency care, through a SBRI Healthcare, an Accelerated Access Collaborative initiative, in partnership with the Health Innovation Network, funding programme.
The funding aims to support innovations that scope health and care outside of hospitals, support reduced length of stay or improving discharge, or support the workforce.
Projects could apply for up to £500,000 for up to 12 months, contributing to the collection of evidence, to accelerate adoption and support late-stage innovations to scale.
Verena Stocker, interim director of innovation, research, life sciences and strategy, NHS England and chief executive officer, Accelerated Access Collaborative, commented: “We have selected these innovations because they have the potential to make a big difference to the delivery of urgent and emergency care.”
The awarded projects include:
- CareLoop Health Ltd – awarded £488,002 – “AI-powered digital therapeutic platform for severe mental illness”.
- Radiobotics – awarded £491,712 – “evaluation to assess the clinical and health economic impact of the RBfracture software, a CE-marked, software device designed to support accurate detection of trauma-related findings”.
- Doc Abode Ltd – awarded £499,971 – “scheduling solution supporting workforce management in NHS urgent community response”.
- Bering Limited – awarded £499,258 – “AI tool for early identification of individuals that may be at risk of unplanned hospital admissions”.
- Luscii Healthtech B.V – awarded £211,333 – “to scale acute virtual wards”.
- Dem Dx Limited – awarded £497,234 – “evaluation of clinical and operational benefits of DemDx’s clinical assessment platform”.
- Safe Steps Ltd – awarded £244,900 – “a digital falls prevention tool that assesses and monitors fall risks in real-time”.
- CardMedic – awarded £499,683 – “a healthcare language portal, connecting caregivers and patients to essential language services”.
- University of Liverpool – MeMed – awarded £476,574 – “rapid blood test that distinguishes bacterial from viral infections in 15 minutes based on the host-immune response”.
Tech to support health and care delivery from across the NHS
For a recent HTN Now webinar, we were joined by experts from across the primary care sector to debate how general practice, PCNs, and ICBs can utilise data and leverage technology to support operational efficiencies and improvements across primary care. Panellists included Kathryn Salt, assistant director of primary & community care, data and analytics for the Transformation Directorate, NHS England; Dr Shanker Vijayadeva, GP lead, digital transformation for the London region at NHS England; Dr Sheikh Mateen Ellahi, GP and practice partner at ELM Tree Surgery and South Stockton Primary Care Network; and Max Gattlin, digital consultant at X-on Health.
Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has become the latest healthcare organisation to implement the Yorkshire and Humber Care Record, as a way to help improve the accessibility of patient information across its services. The programme now involves 13 local NHS organisations and local authorities, providing a view of a patient’s history. Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS FT is now also adding “inpatient discharge summaries, outpatient clinic letters and emergency department discharge summaries” to the shared care record.
North Middlesex University Hospital has launched a virtual fracture clinic with the aim to “improve patient experience and boost efficiency”. The virtual clinic supports patients following a scan for a fracture or a minor injury, aiming to reduce physical follow-up appointments where possible. According to Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, this means that some patients “will no longer have to come back in for a consultation” as they will be able to review their scan and receive a treatment plan remotely instead.
An expert panel including Deborah El-Sayed, director of transformation and CDIO at Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire ICB; Dan Bunstone, clinical director at Warrington ICB; Stephen Bromhall, interim chief officer for digitaland data at South East Coast Ambulance Service; and Laura Thompson, director of marketing at The Access Group, joined us late last year to talk about approaches to tackling challenges from an ICS perspective; new models of care and pathway transformation; the role of technology in supporting the move from reactive to proactive care; and how a system approach can accelerate preventative care.
