The ever increasing pressures on hospital emergency departments (EDs) are well documented globally and not just in the NHS and, despite many years of innovation, growth in numbers arriving at the doors of the ED continues. The reasons for this growth are multifactorial and some demographics show particular issues: children and young people have a significantly higher inappropriate/non-urgent attendance at ED than adults and the proportion of those of all ages with respiratory conditions has grown rapidly over the past few years.
There are some signs of ability to reduce this growth significantly from the work done in the Vanguards, which recognise the need to address the wider system and not simply provide point solutions. This is referenced in the NHS Long Term Plan that has very ambitious targets for reducing hospital admissions.
This competition seeks to address two primary issues, taking into account the systemic complexity and recognising some of the key demographic differences. So the request is for solutions that will:
- Reduce demand
Recognising differences for adults vs children and young people
Recognising that respiratory conditions in all ages account for a rapidly growing proportion of attendances - Reduce the length of stay in the Emergency Department
a. By more efficient triage, streaming and treatment
b. By more efficient discharge or admission to the hospital
Applicants are asked to consider the impact of their innovation on the whole system and to be aware of the competitive environment, even considering working together with other companies to bring forward solutions that can make a real difference.
The COVID-19 emergency has forced changes already and there are some innovations being implemented and tested. Applicants should consider that the baseline they need to innovate from may be different already from that in January 2020. This competition is open to supporting the further development and evaluation of technologies already used experimentally to help in this crisis.
The deadline for applications is 1pm 27 August