Medipex NHS Innovation Awards 2024
For 2024, entries were invited from NHS-led teams from all over the UK, across four categories. Our panel of internal and external judges selected five finalists from each category, which were showcased at the awards event before announcing the winners of each category. The range and quality of innovations entered for the awards was inspirational again this year and it is anticipated that many new collaborations, and opportunities for shared learning, will occur as a result of the event. Congratulations to all of the finalists and winners, and thank you to all of our entrants for taking part.
We would like to give special thanks to the judging panel, made up of experts from Medipex Ltd., Medovate Ltd, the Yorkshire and Humber Academic Health Science Network and, the NIHR Children and Young People Medtech Co-operative and the NIHR Surgical Medtech co-operative, who had a very challenging time in selecting the finalists from a pool of nearly 50 high-quality entries from 14 different organisations and their collaborators.
Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve patient services and/or safety
Innovations that are designed to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve services (including hospital processes, diagnosis, screening, treatment and therapy) and/or improved patient safety.
Category winner
Personalised outcome feedback technology improves the efficiency and effectiveness of psychological care.
Dr Melanie Simmonds-Buckley, Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber (RDaSH) NHS Foundation Trust
In England, around a million patients are referred each year to psychological services that treat depression and anxiety. However, only 50% recover after treatment, so finding ways to improve the effectiveness of treatment is a key priority. We developed and tested an Al-driven Outcome Feedback system (‘AiOracle’) that allows therapists to monitor how their patients are responding to treatment and it estimates their likelihood of recovery. The system compares each patient's level of depression and anxiety symptoms to records for thousands of similar cases at each session and evaluates a patient's therapy progress to provide a personalised probability of recovery. In this way, therapists are alerted to cases that are showing poor progress, prompting them to identify and resolve obstacles to improvement. With lengthy waiting times and less than optimal recovery rates within NHS psychological services, our findings indicate that this technology improves the efficiency and effectiveness of psychological care.
Finalist
Al-enhanced screening for the prevention of Cardiovascular disease
Dr Anna Beattie, The Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
We have developed an advanced image analysis tool that harnesses the power of artificial intelligence (Al) to significantly enhance the precision, reliability, and speed of identifying and triaging cardiovascular conditions using radiological images. Remarkably, our tool has demonstrated accuracy comparable to that of the most experienced clinicians, while being more reproducible and over 100 times faster in delivering results. The primary goal of our innovation is to optimise cardiovascular disease detection by integrating our Al tool into screening programs. This not only allows for early disease detection, catching issues that might be overlooked by the human eye, but it also informs the clinical pathway for those identified with diseases. The Al facilitates precision medicine and improved standardisation with the intention of increasing accessibility to preventative medicine, addressing healthcare inequalities in relation to cardiovascular diseases and improve patient outcomes.
Finalist
OrQA - Organ Quality Assessment, visual smartphone/tablet based Al analysis tool for Transplant Surgeons
Colin Wilson, Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Transplantation is the best treatment for patients with organ failure irrespective of the organ required. Currently over 6,000 patients are on the waiting list in the United Kingdom, costing the NHS tens of millions in hospital care. Focusing on kidney transplantation the numbers are stark with each kidney transplant saving the NHS £420,000 over ten years in dialysis costs. Despite this up to 20% of organs donated for transplantation are not used because of concerns over "quality"- but there is considerable geographical variation. Some UK centres use 70% of offered organs and others only 30%. We are developing a digital smartphone app (OrQA) to support all transplant surgeons to utilise the achievable 70% of donated organs and reduce the waste in vital organs. We estimate that if OrQA had been available last year in the UK, 200 more patients could have received kidney transplants and 100 more patients liver transplants.
Improved treatments, therapies and rehabilitation
Innovations designed to improve treatments for patients, (including, but not limited to, treatments involving surgery and devices to enhance surgical outcomes), and improved rehabilitation interventions.
Category winner
MSE Long COVID Service: Service Redesign and Innovation through Co-production
Ruth Barlow, Provide Community Interest Company
The Long COVID playing field is an unpredictable one, where the rules of the game keep changing. Since our service was created in late 2020, over 3000 patients have been referred, but ONS data suggests this is only 10% of people in Mid and South Essex living with Long COVID for more than two years. In the first year, we learned that no two patients were the same, each presenting with different and life-changing combinations of the 200 plus identified Long COVID symptoms. Many struggled to be referred, due to health professionals' scepticism that Long COVID is real. Patients came to us distressed and seeking validation. In 2022, we evaluated our service and concluded that, to meet the needs of every individual referred and identify the missing 90% of people living with Long COVID, a programme of re-design was essential, and we determined to do this by embracing co-production.
Finalist
Luna's Light: Home-Based VR Upper Limb Rehabilitation
Professor Paul Dimitri, Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust
Children with upper limb injury and burns find their rehabilitation physiotherapy, painful and uninteresting and often disengage, risking delayed recovery and long-term problems.
This ground-breaking project, a collaboration between Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust and Sheffield Hallam University, addresses the challenges of long-term Upper Limb Motor Impairment (ULMI) rehabilitation in children. We have developed an interactive Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) system for home-based therapy that brings physiotherapy exercises into an exciting and immersive games platform, significantly improving patient engagement and optimising functional outcomes. As the IVR system is portable, children can now do their physiotherapy at home with the enjoyment of play-orientated rehabilitation, leading to cost savings by reducing hospital stays and treatment duration compared to conventional face-to-face therapy.
Finalist
Ophthalmology Laser Training Aid
Simon Rawson, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
The Ophthalmology Laser Training Aid is an innovative solution to a common problem in eye surgery training. When performing a specific eye procedure, practitioners often lack effective practice options, leading to potential risks for patients. Our device provides a safe and realistic training environment for eye specialists, allowing them to perfect their skills without any danger to patients. This not only boosts practitioner confidence but also promises better surgical outcomes, reducing the risk of complications. The innovation aims to revolutionise eye surgery training, ensuring that practitioners are well-prepared, ultimately benefiting the quality of care and safety for patients undergoing eye procedures.
Delivering benefits through diagnosis and screening
Innovations designed to improve the detection and diagnosis of health conditions or disease.
Category winner
Progressing Dynamic Diagnosis of Inducible Laryngeal Obstruction in Children
Dr Nicki Barker, Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust
Inducible laryngeal obstruction (ILO) is a condition that causes severe breathlessness affecting a child's quality of life, social functioning, and educational achievement. IIO could be diagnosed using a small camera (laryngoscope) placed in the nose during exercise, but it is currently not possible to comfortably and securely attach the equipment to children. We have developed a method for mounting the laryngoscope on the chest of the child, and through this project, have developed a method for holding the laryngoscope in place at the nose. Accurate diagnosis using the new device will enable rapid access to treatment, remove the risk of unnecessary and harmful medications, and improve quality of life.
Finalist
ASSIST: Accurate and Simple Remote Diagnosis of Surgical Site Infection
Ross Lathan, Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Centralised surgical services improve patient care but often force patients to travel long distances for consultations. Surgical site infection (SSI) is the most common postoperative problem, and often manifests after discharge when patients are at home. To identify and manage these infections requires either a return to the surgical centre, further burden on GP services or remote diagnosis. Current remote methods detect infection in only 55 out of 100 cases, leaving almost half of SSIs unidentified. The ASSIST measure integrates various remote diagnostic methods, offering a quick, simple, and effective solution, improving accuracy significantly. Using ASSIST, over 93 out of 100 infected patients can be correctly identified, enabling precise identification, prioritisation, and signposting to appropriate care. This substantially reduces unnecessary patient travel, enhancing overall pathway experience, and could be utilised to identify SSIs earlier, preventing progression to severe infections.
Improved processes and systems
Innovations that are designed to improve efficiencies and outcomes for service delivery organisations.
Category winner
Tracking down the cancer: A Histopathology patient sample tracking system.
Dil Singh Rathore, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
The examination and interpretation of changes seen in tissue samples (histopathology) forms the foundation of treatment pathways for many. For example, in a breast biopsy it is necessary to determine whether a lump might be malignant or not, and to provide information that may determine the treatment plan or chemotherapeutic regimens. The tissue samples are processed into a block of paraffin wax with the tissue embedded within it. These 'blocks' facilitate the cutting of very thin slices of tissue from which sections are produced allowing microscopic examination and interpretation by a histopathologist. The stress and anxiety patient’s will experience awaiting a cancer diagnosis is further exacerbated if told their sample has been lost or misplaced and a re-biopsy is required. This project addresses this issue by developing a novel real-time tracking system which will prevent potential sample loss, speeds up processing and improves efficiency of histopathology services in the NHS.
Finalist
Nottingham Faster Turnover Cataract Surgery Theatre Pathway
Adrian Kwa, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
Cataract surgery is the commonest operation performed in the NHS, and by 2027, demand for this simple sight-saving operation is predicted to increase by 25%. Nottingham have been struggling with its cataract service, having a long waiting list caused by theatre inefficiency. We redesigned our theatre pathway. We repurposed our anaesthetic room as a preparation room, using a mobile laminar flow machine to create a sterile environment for laying up instruments. This allowed our work streams to run in parallel, maximising efficiency during theatre turnover. Patients are settled on ophthalmic operating trolleys. Before entering theatre. This means patients with mobility issues or problems with laying supine are settled well beforehand, reducing turnover time further. The result was a 60% increase in patient throughput, without compromising patient care or staff wellbeing. This has reduced our cataract waiting list siqnificantly, improving waiting time and reduce reliance on the private sector.
Finalist
Little Hearts at Home platform -A life enhancing, clinically validated monitoring platform.
Jemma Blake, Alder Hey Children's Foundation NHS Trust
Little Hearts at Home (R)TM has been co-developed with clinical founders in response to the need for improved monitoring of vulnerable paediatric patients in the community. Little Hearts at Home (LHAH) is a paediatric first, life-enhancing, clinically validated remote-monitoring platform (RPM). The system provides babies born with severe heart defects, such as single ventricle anatomy, with cross-organisational RPM, connecting patient, parents, community care providers, critical care teams, and clinical staff. It has been proven to reduce time in hospital and anxiety for families, through data driven personalised care. LHAH allows patients early release to spend as much quality time as possible at home, whilst still being monitored by their care team. LHAH has been deployed in the Northwest of England covering a catchment of 29 regions.
Medipex CEO Lindsay Georgopoulos says, “Many congratulations to all of our finalists and of course our winners, who have provided much inspiration to our audience today. A special congratulations must go to our prize winners Professor Opinder Sahota from Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, with his innovation N-ICE Cream, an innovative approach to reduce malnourishment amongst vulnerable hospital patients, and to Dr Andy Swift and team at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, whose innovation AI segmentation of Cardiac MRI was particularly commended by the judges for the clear articulation of the need and benefits of their innovation.”