Working with the community to identify innovations which will transform patient experience, support the health and care system and build the local economy
Care City and UCLPartners are working together on an initiative that drives new healthcare technology into the hands of patients faster, improving patient care for the residents of North East London.
Too often, companies with products and technologies that could help the NHS save and improve lives find it difficult to navigate the complexities of the NHS. They need support to, test and share their ideas, so that the NHS can make the most of the latest innovations. Conversely an already over-stretched public sector cannot always make the time to appraise these different technologies.
The aim of this new initiative is to bridge this gap by working with health and social care organisations in North East London to identify their most pressing challenges and match them with proven technological solutions that address these challenges. It will support the health system priorities and vision set out in the NHS Long Term Plan, focusing particularly on supporting the adoption and validation of new technologies that improve care for people with long-term conditions (including self-care and management), ageing and frailty, dementia and mental health problems.
The initiative builds on the existing relationships both organisations have locally and with industry, and their recent experience supporting the NHS to implement and evaluate new healthcare products. For example, UCLPartners has successfully worked with SMEs and innovators to support the testing and adoption of a range new technologies – from a device to detect deteriorating patients (Respirasense) to an app to support staff engagement and quality improvement (ImproveWell). Care City’s collaboration with HealthUnlocked as part of NHS England and the Office for Life Science’s Test Bed Programme has enabled its EMIS plug-in for social prescribing to be rolled out across Barking & Dagenham, enabling GPs to quickly and easily deliver a digital social prescription to their patients as part of their standard consultation.
Working with locally embedded partners is vital to help us speed up the adoption of technologies that improve patient care. The team at Care City, with their experience of delivering, evaluating and scaling innovative technology, are valuable partners in our work to support the roll out of products to improve the health of people in North East London.
The positive outcomes for the care system in terms of early access to transformative technology and services are well documented. We are delighted to be working alongside UCLPartners to support businesses with market-ready products, to adopt and spread them to support improved patient care across our geography of North East London.
