SBRI (Small Business Research Initiative) Healthcare has announced that it has secured savings in excess of £30 million for the NHS. These findings are part of a report by independent consultants PA Consulting.

SBRI Healthcare spearheads innovation creation within the NHS, and has helped to grow the British economy by over £125m, including £14.6m from job creation, £6.4m from export sales and £104m of private investment. The innovative companies identified and funded by SBRI Healthcare are now delivering savings to the NHS by reducing the cost of delivering treatment and improving patient care.

In the five years since it became part of the national innovation pipeline funded by NHS England, the innovation accelerator has, according to its 2018 survey, also benefitted approximately 1.2m patients through the companies it has supported. Additionally, through its support of innovative companies, SBRI Healthcare has:

• Helped create (or safeguard) 1,050 jobs – predominantly in innovative small companies
• Helped SBRI Healthcare-backed companies secure over £179 million in funding
• Delivered 60 SBRI Healthcare-funded products to the market

SBRI Healthcare runs a series of competitions to identify innovative companies, products and services that have the potential to solve healthcare problems. It provides investment to the winning applicants to help those companies grow and develop so that they are in a position to be procured by the NHS.

An example of the sort of efficient medical technology that SBRI has nurtured is Just Checking, a monitoring service for vulnerable adults and dementia sufferers. The service uses sensors placed around a patient’s home to monitor the patients’ mobility and awareness periodically, this data is then captured in an app that relatives and doctors can review. This helps to keep patients at home for longer, before they have to move into residential care. It is now being used by over 80% of local authorities in the UK, saving the NHS over £11 million so far.

Another great example is iPLATO’ s myGP app. This smartphone app helps the patient explore more convenient alternatives to seeing a GP. GP practices can engage with patients via in-app messaging, voice and video alongside or instead of the patient’s original GP appointment. GP surgeries can triage patients more efficiently on arrival by asking key questions ahead of appointments. Trials have shown the service improves both patient experience and GP workload management. It is currently servicing 20 million patients and nearly 3,000 GP practices.

Karen Livingstone, National Director of SBRI Healthcare, commented: “At SBRI Healthcare, we are passionate about enabling the NHS to remain at the forefront of medical progress by prioritising the uptake of innovation and technological change. SBRI Healthcare is helping to ensure the NHS embraces innovation that benefits patients, saves the NHS money and keeps the service on the vanguard of medical science and development. At a time of budgetary constraint, new thinking and innovative technology should not be seen as a threat to the NHS’s stability, but rather as a key stepping stone towards a successful future.”