NHS England announces patient care trials

NHS England has announced a new drive to trial schemes to modernise how the NHS delivers its services, that will improve patient care.

The scheme is directed at older patients and people with long term conditions and mental health problems.

Simon Stevens, NHS England chief executive, is set to introduce the first wave of NHS Innovation ‘Test Beds’. The NHS will be working with innovators such as Verily, IBM and Phillips in a bid to harness technology to address some of the most complicated issues facing patients and the health service.

Neil Mesher, managing director of Philips UK and Ireland, said: “Philips is proud to be involved in this pioneering new project. We believe this type of collaborative approach between industry, health and care providers is an excellent opportunity to improve patient outcomes whilst at the same time reducing the total cost of care. Supporting patients to meet their own individual goals is an objective Philips are delighted to be involved with.”

Frontline health and care workers in seven areas will research and evaluate the use of key combinations of interconnected devices such as wearable monitors, data analysis and ways of working which can help patients stay well and monitor their conditions themselves at home.

The seven areas are made up of five NHS Test Beds and two Internet of Things (IoT) Test Beds. The former includes Care City Health and Care Test Bed; Long Term Conditions Early Intervention Programme; Lancashire and Cumbria Innovation Alliance Test Bed; Perfect Patient Pathway Test Bed; and RAIDPlus Integrated Mental Health Urgent Care Test Bed. The latter IoT areas includes the Diabetes Digital Coach and the Technology Integrated Health Management.

Commenting on the new development, Stevens said: “Over the next decade major health gains won’t just come from a few 'miracle cures', but also from combining diverse breakthroughs in fields such as biosensors, medtech and drug discovery, mobile communications, and AI computing.

“Our new NHS Test Beds programme aims to cut through the hype and test the practical benefits for patients when we bring together some of these most promising technologies in receptive environments inside the world's largest public, integrated health service."