Clinical decision support in emergency care

The aim of this competition is to develop innovative data analytics that will enable clinicians to make informed, safe and timely decisions. Improved provision of critical data should enable early decision-making on treatment and disposition. It should enhance patient flow, satisfaction and, potentially, outcomes.

The clinical focus is the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) for patients in emergency care departments.

Innovate UK are looking for innovative data analytics that are capable of, but not limited to:

• resolving complex high-volume data into clinically usable data at the point of care
• making key critical data instantly visible to the clinician

Innovations should be able to provide at least one of the following outcomes:

• enhanced clinical decision-making for patients with COPD attending the emergency care department
• enhanced resource utilisation through predicted length of stay
• early identification of patients at risk of deterioration beyond existing prediction models

The competition is particularly looking for solutions that:

• improve patient experience and outcomes
• can be applied to other medical conditions

Proposed digital platforms should effectively and securely interface with existing NHS Scotland IT infrastructure. Digital solutions should be flexible to allow for national and local development of the resource in line with service needs.

Eligibility

To lead a project, you must:

• be an organisation of any size
• work alone or in collaboration with others (businesses, research base and third sector)

Funding and project details

The total funding available has been divided across 2 phases:

• up to £10,000 is for phase 1
• up to £45,000 is for phase 2

Phase 1

• Show the technical feasibility of your proposed innovation
• Projects can range in size up to a total cost of £2,000 each
• Development contracts for feasibility studies should last up to 12 weeks.

Applicants should include their goals and an outline plan for phase 2 in their proposal. This should cover testing in a live NHS system. Proposals should also include an explicit plan for full commercial implementation.

Phase 2 is only open to applicants that have successfully completed phase 1.

• Develop and evaluate prototypes of the most promising projects completed in phase 1
• Projects should last up to 9 months
• Projects can range in size up to a total cost of £15,000 each

The final 6 months of the phase 2 contract will involve testing the shortlisted solutions in full-scale live NHS Scotland systems.