SBRI Healthcare has awarded over £8 million to nine pioneering MedTech innovations in the fields of urgent and emergency care including 52 North Health (formerly NeutroCheck). The funding will be used to fast-track these technologies through the next stages of commercialisation, including the development of prototypes or demonstration units.
These projects were among twelve that were initially identified for phase 1 funding in 2020. This second phase of the competition, launched in collaboration with Health Innovation Manchester AHSN and West Midlands AHSN, will provide the winning innovations with a second round of funding, enabling the demonstration of both technical and commercial viability.
The successful projects range from rapid and sensitive diagnostic devices and tools, more efficient triage or referral systems, training, clinical coaching, and simulation modules to improve skills and diagnosis.
The projects will run for up to twelve months, and aim to develop and evaluate prototypes before further funding is sought for real-world implementation. The long-term aim is for successful technologies to be adopted for use in the NHS and across social care services, where they can provide benefits for patients, the NHS, and the overall community.
Professor Wendy Tindale, Chair of the SBRI Panel and Director of Innovation at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Clinical Director at the NIHR Devices for Dignity MIC said: ‘The demand for Emergency Care is seeing unprecedented growth. New innovations offer the opportunity to manage emergency care in a very different way, one which is sustainable and which delivers appropriate high quality care in the right setting and at the right time. The funding from this SBRI Competition in Emergency Care will enable exciting developments in new technology to help manage those with suspected heart attacks, and will support innovations which will help to predict and avoid unplanned admissions and to guide healthcare professionals through complex decisions, enabling advanced and novel ways of training staff and supporting earlier detection and management of health deterioration’.
Funding was awarded to the following projects:
52 North Health – awarded £999,074: NeutroCheck helps rapidly identify chemotherapy patients at risk of a life-threatening complication called neutropenic sepsis. Through better triaging, Neutrocheck has the potential to save thousands of lives, free up valuable healthcare resources, and make patients’ lives easier, simpler, and better.