SBRI Healthcare digital projects saved NHS £30 million so far

An NHS England technology funding enterprise, the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) Healthcare, secured over £30 million in savings for its parent organisation and reached over millions of patients with its innovative tech projects.

According to the latest report by the independent market researchers, PA Consulting, SBRI Healthcare contributed to over £30 million in savings for the NHS.

SBRI Healthcare runs a series of competitions to identify innovative companies, products and services that have the potential to solve healthcare problems.

It provides investment to the winning applicants to help those companies grow and develop so that they are in a position to be procured by the NHS.

The companies funded by SBRI Healthcare are already delivering savings to the NHS by reducing the cost of delivering treatment and improving patient care.

[caption id="attachment_46696" align="alignleft" width="83"] Karen Livingstone[/caption]

Karen Livingstone, national director of SBRI Healthcare, said: “At SBRI Healthcare, we are passionate about enabling the NHS to remain at the forefront of medical progress by prioritising the uptake of innovation and technological change.

“SBRI Healthcare is helping to ensure the NHS embraces innovation that benefits patients, saves the NHS money and keeps the service on the vanguard of medical science and development.

“At a time of budgetary constraint, new thinking and innovative technology should not be seen as a threat to the NHS’s stability, but rather as a key stepping stone towards a successful future.”

The technology developed thanks to SBRI Healthcare funding has delivered so far over 60 projects to the market helping 1.2 million patients, according to PA Consulting’s data.

One of the most successfulSBRI Healthcare founded projects is monitoring service ‘Just checking’ developed with dementia sufferers and vulnerable adults in mind.

By using sensors placed around patients’ homes, it gathers data which can be easily reviewed by doctors or relatives allowing patients to stay at home for longer before moving into residential care.

The service is currently used by 80% of local authorities around the UK, saving the NHS £11 million so far.

SBRI Healthcare is also a driving force behind myGP application, which is currently allowing nearly 20 million patients to contact their respective surgeries in new ways such as using in-app video messaging, voice and video instead of the old school surgery visits.

The trials show the service improves both patients’ experience and GP workload management and is currently used by thousands of surgeries across the UK.