SBRI Healthcare has announced a new funding competition seeking “work-related digital innovations for individuals with poor mental health”, focusing on supporting individuals to stay in work, return to work, or overcome barriers to workforce entry.
With applicants able to apply for up to £200,000 per innovation for up to 12 months, the competition is open for innovators across all stages of development, with solutions that address specific work-related challenges faced by individuals with mental health issues.
The challenge brief specifies that innovations should be centred around the Core20PLUS5 approach to inequalities, as well as NHS net zero ambitions, with applicants expected to demonstrate “appropriate steps” have been taken to ensure their innovation would not exacerbate inequalities, and the impact of their innovation on the health and care system as a whole.
The brief also suggests that key consideration be given to questions around how the proposed innovation targets work-related issues and how it considers individual capability and motivation around mental health, as well as how the technology supports prevention, engagement, management, and/or recovery, and how the tool can be implemented at scale.
With a briefing webinar scheduled for 8 October for potential applicants, the competition’s closing date is given as 13 November 2024, with assessment of applications to take place through November and December, before selected projects start in February of 2025.
To find out more about the funding competition, please click here.
Innovation in the NHS
At HTN, we’re always covering the latest updates around innovation, whether that be innovative pathways, digital solutions, funding, and more.
Two of our HTN Now panel discussions in the past few weeks have looked at the role of innovation in primary care, with the first considering more broadly what innovation looks like in primary care, issues around digital and patient access, and barriers to innovation in primary care; and the second presenting a case study from the ELM Tree medical centre, based in the North East of England, considering how to manage the expectations of patients, staff shortages, and the needs of staff who may be unhappy with their workload.
Elsewhere, HTN covered news of funding opportunities, such as £10k being offered for innovations impacting patient care in Herefordshire and Worcestershire, and the launch of a new £250,000 fund for innovation and digital tools in wound care, designed to improve outcomes for patients with chronic wounds by supporting widespread adoption of digital wound management in community nursing.
In August, the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme (CEP) and Alzheimer’s Society announced a partnership to develop the Dementia Innovators programme, a pilot designed to explore ideas with the potential to support dementia care from professionals inside and outside the NHS.
Earlier this month, HTN covered the news that Innovate UK had reversed a decision to award only half of the planned grants through the Women in Innovation’ funding competition, following backlash online against an announcement that only 25 out of an expected 50 female founders would receive funding.
Highlighting the role of digital and data in supporting mental health services
In London, the North London Mental Health Partnership shared plans to procure a digital local risk management and incident reporting system, whilst University College London launched a partnership with YouTube Health, designed to improve access and quality of mental health information on the site for young people in particular.
Elsewhere, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside’s three-year plan to improve mental health services also highlighted the role of data as a “key enabler” in realigning services so that inpatient provision better fits the needs of the population, following a self-assessment involving multiple stakeholders.
