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Big ideas to improve patient flow in hospitals sought from innovators

  • The West Midlands Health & Wellbeing Innovation Network are helping the NHS face and solve some of their biggest problems
  • University of Warwick and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust are establishing partnerships with businesses and innovators
  • This latest call for pitches focuses on ‘Patient Flow’ and ‘Patient Status Visibility’
  • Deadline for applications - 24 February 2022

The University of Warwick is calling on innovators and businesses to pitch solutions that will improve patient flow through the hospital.

The University is working with the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire Innovation team, to help address their real-world health challenges, by developing partnerships with innovative suppliers.

Those suppliers will have the opportunity to build services and products with the stakeholders that actually need them, through collaboration with NHS staff. Through their partnerships, they will have the chance to scale into the West Midlands Health Space, join a thriving network of innovators and receive dedicated Innovation and Product Development support, with the aim of helping solve real world NHS problems.

The West Midlands Health and Wellbeing Innovation Network was established by the University of Warwick in partnership with UHCW NHS Trust and Bruntwood SciTech. The Network received £100,000 funding from the West Midlands Combined Authority’s Innovation Programme in 2021 to create and develop innovative commercial responses to real-world health challenges grounded in regional impact.

The Network will set a successive number of challenges and each time call for interested businesses, who have a desire for growth in the healthcare, wellbeing and technology sectors to step forward for support. Businesses will not need to be based in the West Midlands in order to pitch their idea but in addressing the challenges their impact should be felt in the region.

In this second cohort of challenges, the focus is ‘Patient Flow’ and ‘Patient Status Visibility.’ The Network is looking for pitches that answer the questions:

  • How might we optimise the handover of patients between wards as they progress through their care in the hospital and at point of discharge to prevent blockages?
  • How might we ensure that patients and their support network have maximum visibility of the next steps in their care?

Successful pitches will be put through a 10-week innovation programme which will draw on innovation best practice to guide the business through the product development process using:

  • Guided Customer research, collaboration, and innovation workshops
  • Access to hospital resources, data, and people
  • Dedicated workspace at the University of Warwick and Bruntwood SciTech
  • Dedicated workshop space for ideation sessions and meetings
  • Access to high calibre selection of mentors
  • Opportunity to utilise University resources to collaboratively apply for funding

Applications must be received by 24 February 2022, and more information on applying can be found here: https://warwickinnovationdistrict.com/west-midlands-health-and-wellbeing-innovation-network-wmhwin/

Josh Dale, WMHWIN Innovation Manager, said: “The first cohort of the programme which kicked off in October 2021 has surpassed both UHCW stakeholders and the participants’ expectations. By bringing together an ecosystem of innovators the challenges surrounding waste management and moving people and equipment have been solved and a roadmap has been devised to expand the scope of the programme.

“The process resulted in the creation of a fully working prototype of an end-to-end waste management system and logistics system. The remaining weeks of the programme involve the creation of a fully deployable system which can scale into multiple streams both at UHCW and across the NHS.

“This first cohort has validated that a dynamic group of innovators can come together to rapidly solve the NHS's challenges, demonstrate new ways of working and create an ecosystem of suppliers that can accelerate the adoption and implementation of Innovation in the NHS.”

Ends

Notes to editors:

How does the West Midlands Health & Wellbeing Innovation Network support new start-ups and the NHS?
We talked to Ali Bahsoun, MediShout, about his start-up business and how it is supporting the NHS.
Watch the interview here: https://youtu.be/8a_Q9j7Q0ZM

You can also sign up to become a mentor below, or join our newsletter to find out more about the West Midlands Health and Wellbeing cluster.

Become a Mentor visit: https://warwickinnovationdistrict.com/join-us/

Newsletter sign-up: https://warwickinnovationdistrict.com/sign-up-for-the-latest-news/

For more about Warwick Innovation District visit: https://warwickinnovationdistrict.com/

More about the University of Warwick: https://warwick.ac.uk/

26 January 2022

University of Warwick press office contact:

Peter Thorley

Media Relations Manager (Warwick Medical School and Department of Physics) | Press & Media Relations | University of Warwick
Email: peter.thorley@warwick.ac.uk 

Mob: +44 (0) 7824 540863