The health service is inviting entries to a design contest with the aim of improving the standard of patient care, writes Lee Hibbert
Calling all mechanical engineers – your skills and experience are urgently needed to provide the inspiration for six priority healthcare products which the NHS says could help to transform patients’ lives. And there could be significant financial reward should you choose to get involved.
The plea for help comes from clinicians in ambulance services and paediatrics, who have identified half a dozen products that currently do not exist. The NHS now wants technology companies to respond either unilaterally or in collaboration with other companies to meet the specified requirements. For each product, development funding is available amounting potentially to thousands of pounds.
The request comes as a marked change in the way the NHS handles its engagement with companies. Previously, it relied on firms to approach it with innovative ideas which might or might not have led to the development of a product. But now the requirements are decided on the basis of collective need following brainstorming sessions with practising clinicians in which they are asked to highlight their needs by completing the sentence “wouldn’t it be great if…”.
This “demand-led” approach, effectively using frontline staff to create a wish-list, means the chances of the products being successfully adopted by the NHS are greatly increased.
“Historically, the NHS has been appalling at articulating its unmet needs,” admits Brian Winn, head of the National Innovation Centre, an organisation set up to encourage the adoption of technology within the NHS. “I think this poor performance stems from the fact that many people within the NHS don’t know what engineers actually do. But I’m an engineer myself – and this is my way of contacting the engineering brotherhood to say ‘we need your help’.”
For the ambulance service, the products are:
A carry chair for moving patients. The chair should be safe, easy and simple to use, and help ambulance crews to avoid the risk of injuring themselves and possibly further injuring their patients.
An easy to use/reuse mechanism for moving patients with a fractured neck of femur which would self-regulate/stabilise while the patient was in transit and help to protect the patient from further injury.
An “intelligent” mattress that could rapidly and non-invasively monitor vital signs and diagnose common conditions.
And for paediatric services, the products are:
Improved diagnostic and investigative testing for children, to include a rapid assessment of vital signs for use in emergencies, and a differentiation of viral versus bacterial infections.
Non-invasive or minimally invasive technologies to replace invasive methods to assess potassium levels and carry out full blood count and liver function tests. The device would need to offer multiple testing from the same platform.
For children with profound learning and physical difficulties, a new type of wheelchair with clinical monitoring capabilities to enable carers to manage them more effectively in the community and increase their quality of life.
In each case, the National Innovation Centre is offering financial support to companies to encourage them to develop these products. A phase one, proof-of-concept study might typically run for six months with £10,000-£25,000 funding. This would be expected to outline a specification and an initial prototype.
Should this prove successful, a phase two development contract could be issued, attracting £80,000 over two years. This would be expected to result in a business plan and refinement of the prototype. Intellectual property would rest with the contractor, with certain rights of use for the NHS.
“What we are saying to engineering companies is get in touch and convince us,” says Winn. “If a company comes up with a good submission, then the funding for the feasibility study could be provided within a month. We want good ideas and then swift action.”
■ For fuller details go to http://competitions.nic.nhs.uk/challengeList.aspx
Applications need to be submitted before 30 September
© PE Publishing, 9 September 2009
