SBRI Healthcare, an Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC) initiative, in partnership with the Health Innovation Network, has awarded £3.9 million for the development of nine innovations that support the delivery of Urgent & Emergency Care (UEC).
Funded by the AAC, SBRI Healthcare 'Competition 26, Phase 3, UEC’, was launched in July 2024 as a Phase 3 funding competition. Phase 3 competitions aim to facilitate the collection of evidence in real-world settings to accelerate the adoption and spread of late-stage innovations into healthcare settings.
The competition was open to single companies and organisations from the private, public, and third sectors, including large corporates, small and medium enterprises, charities, universities and NHS providers.
In consultation with clinicians and other stakeholders working in provision of care across the spectrum, innovations in Urgent & Emergency Care were sought that focus on:
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Health and care outside of hospitals: accessing the right care and reducing demand
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Reducing length of stay and improving discharge
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Supporting the workforce.
Projects could apply for a maximum of £500,000 for up to 12 months.
Verena Stocker, Interim Director of Innovation, Research, Life Sciences and Strategy, NHS England and Chief Executive Officer, Accelerated Access Collaborative, said:
“The SBRI Healthcare awards help the NHS to develop new technologies and solutions to address some of the biggest healthcare challenges facing society. We have selected these innovations because they have the potential to make a big difference to the delivery of urgent and emergency care. By supporting the most promising innovations, the NHS will continue to evolve, helping to meet more patients’ needs and encouraging more innovators to come forward with innovative ideas that benefit all.”
The SBRI Healthcare 'Competition 26 – UEC, Phase 3' awarded projects are:
CareLoop Health Ltd – awarded £488,002 - CareLoop P4-DTx: AI-powered Digital Therapeutic Platform for Severe Mental Illness that Reduces Relapses and Demands on Urgent and Emergency Care
CareLoop supports people with severe mental illnesses (SMIs). Using a smartphone, patients give regular feedback and access self-management tools. Clinicians view insights remotely and are notified if a patient becomes unwell for early action to prevent relapse. By preventing relapse, CareLoop aims to reduce the burden on emergency and hospital services.
Radiobotics - awarded £491,712 - Real-world evaluation to assess the clinical and health economic impact of the RBfracture software within the NHS
RBfracture™ is a CE-marked, AI-powered detection and diagnosis software device designed to support emergency and radiology staff with highly accurate detection of trauma-related findings, including fractures and joint dislocations. Seamlessly integrated into hospital systems, it quickly flags problem areas and helps clinicians get the diagnosis right the first time.
Doc Abode Ltd - awarded £499,971 - Doc Abode: Digitally transforming the NHS workforce of the future
Doc Abode’s Dynamic Scheduling solution supports workforce management in NHS Urgent Community Response, ensuring rapid and efficient patient care. The project enhances decision-making with AI-driven support to enhance real-time scheduling, increasing service capacity, reducing hospital admissions, and improving patient and staff experience.
Bering Limited – awarded £499,258 - Brave AI: Supporting communities through anticipatory care outside of hospitals
Brave AI is a digital tool for early identification of individuals that may be at risk of unplanned hospital admissions. Brave uses Machine Learning to enable Primary Care teams to focus efforts on prevention over sickness. The project will demonstrate the efficacy of Brave AI in a real-world setting.
Luscii Healthtech B.V - awarded £211,333 - Scaling Acute Virtual Wards: an evidenced-based NHS blueprint
Luscii’s acute virtual ward leverages remote monitoring technology to support patients at home, reducing hospital admissions and improving care efficiency. The project aims to evaluate the ward’s health, economic, and environmental impacts, addressing health inequalities whilst developing a scalable blueprint for NHS-wide adoption of acute virtual care.
Dem Dx Limited - awarded £497,234 - Evaluation of clinical and operational benefits of DemDx’s intelligent Clinical Assessment Platform when used by Allied-Health-Professionals in acute clinical setting
DemDx enables frontline clinicians such as nurses, paramedics, physician associates, and pharmacists, to carry out faster, safer and more consistent clinical assessments, making the best use of limited front line clinical resource. The project aims to provide independent evaluation of the health economics and financial benefits of deploying the product within different clinical settings (UTCs, GPs).
Safe Steps Ltd – awarded £244,900 - Reducing Hospital Demand Using Enhanced Falls Prevention in Primary Care
Safe Steps is a digital falls prevention tool that assesses and monitors fall risks in real-time. Already deployed in over 500 care homes, it aims to expand to hospitals and acute care settings, integrating with EHRs to enhance risk management, reduce hospital admissions, and improve patient outcomes.
CardMedic – awarded £499,683 – CardMedic: The Healthcare Language Portal - Improving patient safety, experience, and quality of care, and reducing health inequalities
CardMedic is a revolutionary healthcare language portal, instantly connecting caregivers and patients to essential language services and a suite of clinically approved solutions in one place, at the point of care and on any device.
University of Liverpool - MeMed - awarded £476,574 - PRe-Implementation Evaluation of Fidelity and Adherence of MeMed BV rapid test in febrile Children presenting to the Emergency Department (PREFACE)
MeMed BV® is an innovative rapid blood test that distinguishes bacterial from viral infections in 15 minutes based on the host-immune response. The project evaluates its adoption in NHS Emergency Departments to optimize use, reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions, and ensure timely bacterial infection treatment, enhancing patient care and safety.
About SBRI Healthcare
SBRI (Small Business Research Initiative) Healthcare provides funding and support to innovators to develop solutions that tackle existing unmet needs faced by the NHS. The programme aims to improve patient care, increase efficiency in the NHS, and support the UK economy. The programme provides funding and support to early-stage projects enabling testing for business feasibility and technology development, as well as to more mature products to support real world implementation studies. SBRI Healthcare is funded by the Accelerated Access Collaborative and delivered in partnership with the Health Innovation Network.
About the Accelerated Access Collaborative
The Accelerated Access Collaborative is a unique partnership between patient groups, government bodies, industry and the NHS. It delivers ambitious programmes to ensure the NHS is in the best place to improve patient outcomes and reduce health inequalities through research and innovation. It does this by identifying the best new medicines, medical devices, diagnostics and digital products. It supports providers and integrated care systems to make them available to patients as quickly as possible.
About the Health Innovation Network
There are 15 health innovation networks across England, established by NHS England in 2013 to spread innovation at pace and scale – improving health and generating economic growth. Each health innovation network works across a distinct geography serving a different population in each region. As the only bodies that connect NHS and academic organisations, local authorities, the third sector and industry, health innovation networks are catalysts that create the right conditions to facilitate change across whole health and social care economies, with a clear focus on improving outcomes for patients.