New NHS innovations to save lives and improve treatment

11 innovative projects are being backed in the last round of NHS England’s programme to develop and spread pioneering ideas, equipment and technology that have the potential to save lives as well as millions of pounds.

A wireless sensor that better detects breathing rate in hospital patients, an app to help pregnant women monitor hypertension and another that directs patients with minor injuries to treatment units with the shortest queues are among the innovations.

The 15 NHS Academic Health Science Networks (AHSN) will promote their adoption across the NHS.

Included in this third round of the NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA) programme are: RespiraSense, a wireless device that measures breathing through chest and abdomen movements delivering highly accurate, continuous data; home monitoring of hypertension in pregnancy (HaMpton), allows pregnant women at risk of pre-eclampsia to input blood pressure readings and urine test results into an app, then answer a set of questions to help identify the condition; WaitLess, an app that shows patients with minor injuries where they can go to access the quickest treatment; and Dip.io, provides patients with clinically accurate urine analysis from home in a matter of minutes, helping to identify Chronic Kidney Disease and UTIs as well as pre-eclampsia in pregnant women.

In addition to the NIA, NHS England has opened an Innovation Technology Payment system to help NHS organisations quickly spread new innovations.

Simon Stevens, NHS England chief executive, said: “Modern medicine is on the cusp of a huge shift in how care is delivered, and practical innovations like these show how NHS patients will now directly benefit. More tests and patient monitoring will be done at home or on the move, without the need to pitch up to a doctors appointment or hospital outpatients.”

Ian Dodge, national director for strategy and innovation at NHS England, said: “Since it started the NHS Innovation Accelerator has continued to deliver for patients and the taxpayer. It’s just one of the ways that the NHS is getting its act together to provide practical help for innovators with the best ideas. From a small investment, we are already seeing very big benefits – safer care for patients, better value for taxpayers, new jobs created and export wins.”

Mike Hannay, chair of the NHS AHSN Network, said: “As a national NHS AHSN Network we remain committed to supporting the NIA to ensure that as many residents, patients and staff as possible can access these innovations, which support primary care and urgent and emergency care needs. We look forward to working with the new Fellows over the coming months to deliver these innovations at scale across the country.”