Brain in Hand

An award-winning system allowing to help those with autism, a mental health condition or a learning difficulty the chance to access detailed personalised support from their smartphone.

An award-winning system allowing to help those with autism, a mental health condition or a learning difficulty the chance to access detailed personalised support from their smartphone.

Brain in Hand allows users to quickly find their best coping strategies to overcome issues as well as practical solutions to overcome everyday challenges and help them to achieve their goals. This includes a diary, reminders, notes, coping strategies and a team of trained professionals to give help when and where it is needed.

The app is helping reduce anxiety and improve independence for almost two thousand people in health and social care and education across the UK and also reduce demand on carers and support services. It is also one of the interventions mentioned by NHS England in its guide for GP practice staff on how to support those with autism.

Health Innovation Manchester’s digital accelerator team is working with Greater Manchester Combined Authority and our Mental Health Trusts over the next 12 months to understand whether citizens in our region could potentially benefit from Brain in Hand.

Find our more about Brain in Hand here

Healthy.io

A health-tech company with a mission to improve healthcare outcomes by turning the smartphone into a regulatory approved clinical device.

A health-tech company with a mission to improve healthcare outcomes by turning the smartphone into a regulatory approved clinical device.

Its first product line, Dip.io, allows patients to do regular urine tests at home using their smartphone cameras and a digital testing kit. It can be used to indicate infections, chronic illnesses and pregnancy-related complications.

It is currently being used as part of a project at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, where patients who are particularly prone to developing UTI’s are given kits to take at home when they develop symptoms. Read more here

The technology aims to speed up diagnosis and treatment and prevent hospital admission in some cases. The product is extremely user-friendly, giving patients the confidence to self-manage their condition with positive initial feedback from patients.

The Digital Accelerator is supporting Healthy.io to grow, prove the benefits of the product and get further exposure and introductions within the NHS. Healthy.io is particularly interested in engaging with programmes of work in Maternity, pre-operative assessment, recurrent UTI patients, prevention/screening for Chronic Kidney Disease.

Find out more about Healthy.io here

Malinko

A Manchester-based software company that develops community scheduling and workforce management.

A Manchester-based software company that develops community scheduling and workforce management.

The technology was originally developed for use in the cleaning and home-care sectors and is now expanding into community health-care and outpatient clinics.

Malinko automates the caseload scheduling, ensuring visits are optimally appointed, with live date and location information collected from nurses via an app, with a successful pilot completed with Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust.

The company has also received grant funding to funding to develop clinic scheduling systems for use in outpatient clinics such as ophthalmology, chemotherapy and diabetes where manual scheduling between departments, the availability of staff and resources can result in inefficient use of resources and delays.

Through the Digital Health Accelerator, Malinko is exploring additional opportunities to spread their software to community healthcare providers in Greater Manchester while also engage with Trusts to identify opportunities for evaluation of the outpatient scheduling system and raise further investment.

Find out more about Malinko here

Safe Steps

A digital falls risk assessment tool, designed to reduce the number of falls in care homes.

A digital falls risk assessment tool, designed to reduce the number of falls in care homes.

With 40% of hospital admissions from care homes occurring as a result of a fall, falls prevention represents a huge challenge for care homes across the UK. Based on NICE guidelines, Safe Steps allows care homes to proactively implement a review process whereby vulnerable residents can be identified, receive appropriate care and thus reduce their risk of falling.

The progressive web app uses a dynamic set of assessment questions to create individual, personalised care plans. Co-created with care professionals, Safe Steps provides a consistent way for care organisations to implement a falls prevention strategy and adhere to Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulatory requirements.

Through the Digital Accelerator, Safe Steps have engaged with the Greater Manchester and Eastern Cheshire Patient Safety Collaborative and the Falls and Frailty teams within Health Innovation Manchester to help spread awareness of the app. An evaluation of the technology is also currently underway in Bolton involving more than 25 care homes.

Find out more about Safe Steps here