Opportunity for regional digital businesses keen to access the NHS market

Businesses working in the digital sector have the chance to pitch their innovations to an audience of regional healthcare influencers.

Digital Catalyst 2019, a new event organised by the Academic Health Science Network for the North East and North Cumbria (AHSN NENC) and NIHR Clinical Research Network North East and North Cumbria (NIHR CRN NENC), offers a unique opportunity for companies in the digital sector to connect with frontline NHS staff and academics, to scope and tackle a series of healthcare problems.

In advance of the event, the organisers asked NHS staff what challenges they faced that could benefit from digital development. A number of key themes emerged giving rise to seven challenge areas aligned with the NHS Long Term Plan.

The event will explore these challenges further by bringing delegates together to form multi-disciplinary teams and harnessing their skills and expertise to solve the healthcare problems.

The seven challenge areas are:

1. How might we digitally enable clinicians to triage patients, to overcome using traditional paper-based methods?
2. The NHS is the biggest employer in Europe, and the world’s largest employer of highly skilled professionals. How might we digitalise and scale complex training packages, to enable staff to deliver high quality care?
3. How might we use digital technologies and predictive tools to screen patients and identify those at risk of certain conditions?
4. Going to hospital can be stressful enough, but this is made more difficult if you cannot speak the language. How can we digitally help those patients and their carers?
5. How can we incorporate gamification into care pathways and treatment options, to increase compliance and enhance patient satisfaction and user experience?
6. We want to explore the use and possibilities, of animation, design, and modelling, to visually represent anatomical features and pathologies to patients.
7. How can we digitalise the catheter passports carried by catheterised patients, to incorporate training and treatment plans for patients and their care givers?

At the event, the challenges will be presented by clinicians from across the NHS in the region, followed by a high-level scoping exercise into each challenge.

Teams can bid for funding of up to £15,000 to pump prime projects emerging from the event, and continued support will be available from both the AHSN and the CRN to help make the project a success.

Any digital companies interested in taking part should contact Charlotte Fox, Innovations Manager at the AHSN NENC before 21^st June at: charlotte.fox@ahsn-nenc.org.uk

In addition to the challenge element of Digital Catalyst, the event also offers the opportunity to network and hear about the national and local digital strategy for healthcare, as well as to learn about what others are working on in this field.  Speakers include

For full details, visit: https://bit.ly/2JZm4du