General Practice of the Future

The NHS is seeking innovative ways to deal with increasing demands on GP surgeries.

NHS England and the academic health science networks are to invest in innovative business projects that help family doctors cope with increasing demands placed on their practices.

The demand for general practice is at its highest ever level. The number of face-to-face consultations increased by 13% between 2010 and 2015 at the same time as the number of GPs was declining.

GPs are expected to face increasing demands on their practices as more and more elements of care are pushed out of hospitals and into general practice.

The NHS is seeking to fund projects under SBRI (Small Business Research Initiative) in three areas:

• workload and demand management: solutions that better forecast the demands that will be placed on surgeries and help to release GP time
• diagnostics and earlier triage: technology that allows rapid diagnostic testing to take place within general practices rather than in acute care
• self-care: products that help the patient to look after themselves in partnership with their GP

To read about the challenges to these categories and further information, click here.

Application process and funding

This competition is part of the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) programme which aims to bring novel solutions to Government departments’ issues by engaging with innovative companies that would not be reached in other ways: 

• It enables Government departments and public sector agencies to procure new technologies faster and with managed risk; 
• It provides vital funding for a critical stage of technology development through demonstration and trial – especially for early-stage companies.

The SBRI scheme is particularly suited to small and medium-sized businesses, as the contracts are of relatively small value and operate on short timescales for Government departments.

It is an opportunity for new companies to engage a public sector customer pre-procurement. The intellectual property rights are retained by the company, with certain rights of use retained by the NHS and Department of Health.

The competition is designed to show the technical feasibility of the proposed concept, and the development contracts placed will be for a maximum of 6 months and up to £100,000 (incl. VAT) per project.

Successful projects could attract contracts of up to £1 million for further development of the idea and funding is available in the form of 100% funded development contracts.