Category: Innovation

Our data-driven future in healthcare: People and partnerships at the heart of health related technologies

Academy of Medical Sciences, December 2018
New data-driven technologies, powered by novel ways of linking and analysing patient data, are set to transform the way that health and social care is delivered as well as the ways in which we manage our own health. Technologies such as wearable devices, mobile apps and intelligent monitoring devices that use machine learning, provide an opportunity for the NHS to harness the breadth and depth of patient data that it holds to support a healthier future for patients and the public. This report outlines a set of principles based on dialogues with patients, the public and healthcare professionals, for the development, evaluation and deployment of data-driven technologies in healthcare. Embedding these principles will be essential if we are to realise the anticipated benefits of these innovative technologies whilst maintaining trust in their use in health and social care sectors. Central to this are meaningful partnerships with patients and the public and their health and care professionals.
Click here to view the full report.

Help at home: Use of assistive technology for older people

National Institute for Health Research, December 2018
This review presents a selection of recent research on assistive technology for older people funded by The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and other government funders. This has been selected with help from an expert steering group. In this review we focus on research around the use of technology in the home, remote monitoring systems and designing better environments for older people.
Click here to view the full report.

Seven principles for public engagement in research and innovation policymaking: A guide from Nesta’s Inclusive Innovation team

Nesta, November 2018
Why should researchers, innovators and those whose jobs it is to regulate technology engage with people who aren’t like them on topics like research and innovation?

  • To give those in power a broader range of potential futures to aspire to
  • To encourage researchers and policymakers to think about broader social, political and ethical issues
  • To improve research and innovation
  • To make sure the benefits of research and innovation are shared widely

Proposes the following 7 key principles:

  • Supported by those with the power to change things
  • Open to experimentation
  • Designed with a clear goal in mind
  • Sensible about measures of success
  • Targeted at specific audiences and communities not the general public
  • Beneficial for participants
  • Informed and facilitated

Click here to view the full report.

Ensuring access to medicines: How to stimulate innovation to meet patients’ needs?: (Policy Brief 29)

European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, November 2018
Brief that aims to inform discussions about stimulating more meaningful productivity in terms of pharmaceutical R&D. More specifically, it explores how R&D efforts can be steered to areas of unmet clinical needs and how efficiency in the R&D process can be increased. It also explicitly considers concrete options for strengthening cooperation between European Union member states in this context.
Click here to view the full report.

NHS England Test Beds Programme: Evaluation learning from Wave 1

NHS England, November 2018
This document shares learning about conducting real-world evaluations based on the experiences of Wave 1 of the Test Beds programme. It is designed to support innovation projects like the Test Beds which implement combinations of digital technology and pathway redesign in order to improve patient outcomes. The evaluation handbook is designed to support a future wave of Test Bed programme directors, healthcare programme commissioners and other Test Bed project staff to:

  • Understand common evaluation challenges faced by the initial Wave 1 Test Beds and benefit from their learning
  • Plan similar evaluation activity and access tools and guidance that can support their work

Click here to view the report.

The spread challenge: How to support the successful uptake of innovations and improvements in health care

The Health Foundation, September 2018
Health Foundation report considering:

  • The challenges facing the NHS in improving the uptake of new ideas and practices, and the need for new approaches when developing national and local programmes to support the spread of innovation.
  • It highlights why health care improvement programmes need to be designed in more sophisticated ways if ambitions to improve health care services are to be realised.
  • Health care improvement is not only about finding innovative solutions to the challenges facing the health service, but also how to ensure these solutions are taken up successfully across the NHS. Challenging traditional ways of thinking, the report argues that programmes to spread innovation and improvement should support those adopting an idea developed elsewhere, as well as innovators.

Click here to view the full report.

Accelerating Artificial Intelligence in health and care: results from a state of the nation survey

The AHSN Network, September 2018
A new ‘state of the nation report about the use of Artificial Intelligence in health and care has found that we are only beginning to unlock the potential of AI.  The report spotlights some of the opportunities AI creates and shows where it is already being used in projects across the country. It also considers some of the barriers to wider deployment of AI and proposes solutions, including the creation of a “code of conduct” for the sector.
Click here to view the full report.

Initial code of conduct for data-driven health and care technology

Department of Health and Social Care, September 2018
This code provides clarification of:

  • what is expected from suppliers of data-driven technologies
  • what the government will do to support and encourage innovators in health and care, including the development of trusted approval systems and a coherent pathway for suppliers to enter the market

The code provides the basis for ongoing engagement and conversation on how we should use new technology to provide better and more sustainable services, with:

  • our partners in academia, industry and the health and care system
  • patients
  • clinicians
  • the wider public

The code provides the basis for the health and care system and suppliers of digital technology to enter into commercial terms in which the benefits of the partnerships between technology companies and health and care providers are shared fairly.
Click here to view the code.

NHS England Test Beds Programme: Information Governance learning from Wave 1

NHS England, September 2018
The Test Beds programme brings NHS organisations and innovators into partnerships to see how combinations of technology and pathway redesign can improve quality of life and experience for patients and carers.  This handbook is relevant for programme leaders, project managers and information governance staff working on similar projects and will enable them to:

  • Understand common information governance challenges, like those faced by Wave 1 Test Beds, and benefit from their learning
  • Plan information governance activity across a project’s lifespan
  • Access tools and guidance that can support their work

It also provides useful links and resources supports the detailed learning captured in NHS England Test Beds Programme: Information Governance learning from Wave 1.
Click here to view the handbook.