The NHS Transformation Directorate has opened round three of its Digital Innovation Partnership Awards, a scheme created to help NHS organisations in England bid for funding to accelerate the adoption of digital health technologies.
The programme focuses on technologies that support people at home, including tools to support self-management of long-term conditions, diagnostic support and treatment, and system efficiencies related to care pathway transformation. However, as of this round, funding to support virtual wards [which has a separate national funding programme] and apps “that are providing high level advice and guidance to patients such as apps that are not supporting clinical decision or collecting patient data”, are not included in the project scope.
NHS organisations are able to bid for funding of up to £100,000, £250,000 and £500,000 to include the technology, change funds and evaluation.
Technologies are welcomed from across the digital spectrum, from web platforms and patient facing apps, to wearables and extended reality.
NHS Transformation Directorate, said: “We encourage proposals where NHS organisations are looking beyond traditional customer or supplier relationships, and geographical boundaries, and can demonstrate how they can best leverage the expertise and experience of each partner to deliver a sustainable solution.”
Some of the requirements for the programme include that all technologies must meet the Digital Technology Assessment Criteria (DTAC), projects must appoint a Clinical Safety Officer, and they must undertake a Data Protection Impact Assessment.
As part of each bid, the proposal must include an overview of the project; patient cohort and patients impacted; deliverables and data; roles of partners; benefits and outcomes; opportunities for ICS, regional or national scale and sharing; digital inclusion; project delivery plan and milestones; sustainability; risks and dependencies; and a governance model.
In March 2022 the project winners as part of round two of the programme were announced, where £5,518,492 was awarded to 27 projects.
The opportunity closes on 24 June at 5:00pm, and the project awards will be announced towards the end of July 2022.
For more information, please visit the NHS Transformation Directorate website here.
