Funding to help NHS Rebuild Routine Services

Health Enterprise East (HEE), the Cambridge-based NHS innovation hub, is calling on local businesses to make suggested donations of between £1,000 to £5,000, that will go directly to help local NHS facilities rebuild provision of routine services, as the acute phase of the COVID-19 crisis subsides.

Innovate Now will fund the rapid research and development of innovative devices, diagnostics and apps that will help to tackle the current backlog of consultations, screenings and surgeries while implementing new safeguarding measures for patients and front-line staff.

Working with its 20 strong network of NHS organisations across the East of England, London and the South Coast, HEE will identify key priorities and allocate funds accordingly, catalysing multiple projects. NHS partners have already highlighted the need for urgent support in aspects including managing outpatients remotely, ICU critical care, patient self-monitoring and knowledge sharing. This needs-based approach means that solutions can be delivered with relatively modest funds and in incredibly short timeframes.

 Mr Andrew Hindmarsh, Consultant Oesophagogastric Surgeon at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “It’s clear that innovation is going to be critical as we re-start routine services in the NHS. We need to develop new technologies in much shorter timeframes than has traditionally been the case which is why a rapid turnaround funding scheme such as this will make such a difference. These funds will enable us to take an idea and swiftly develop it to a point where we can start to engage commercial partners.”

 More information: www.hee.co.uk