Twenty innovators will be taking part in this year's DigitalHealth.London accelerator programme in an effort to speed up adoption and spread of innovation across the NHS, it was announced this week. 

The initiative helps small and medium-sized enterprises develop and deploy solutions addressing pressing challenges faced by the NHS, helping to ease pressures on staff and improve care delivery and outcomes for patients.

It is a programme of DigitalHealth.London, and a collaboration between the three Academic Health Science Networks in London – the Health Innovation Network, UCLPartners and Imperial College Health Partners – MedCity, CW+ and the Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity, with support from the Mayor of London. It receives around £1.7m in funding from the European Regional Development Fund.

The 20 innovators selected for the fourth cohort are:

• Ampersand Health – digital therapeutics for people with long-term conditions
• Birdie – digital products to improve care delivery for the elderly
• Diabetes Digital Media – personalised apps to help patients with diabetes
• Edge Health – app maximising the use of theatre capacity
• EQL Limited – AI-triage tool for musculoskeletal conditions
• Ibex Medical Analytics – AI-based cancer diagnostics
• LifeBox Health – digitising patient assessment for surgery
• Lifelight (Xim) – preventative monitoring technology to help older patients
• Macusoft – tailored treatment plans for people with Macular Degeneration (affecting the central part of your vision – leading cause of sight loss in the UK)
• Medicspot – remote consultations by GPs in so-called remote clinic “pods”
• Motilent – assessment of digestive diseases using medical image analysis
• Ortus i-Health – digital outpatient clinic platform
• Oxford Heartbeat – technology for minimally invasive surgeries
• Patchwork – specialist temporary staffing technology
• Push Doctor – online consultation service
• SkinVision - skin cancer screening app 
• Sweatcoin – app that rewards users for being active
• Digital Health Passport (Tiny Medical Apps) – personal health record app
• Vine Health – app providing support for cancer patients
• White Swan –  using data science to help people with undiagnosed conditions.

WHY IT MATTERS

Selling to the NHS has long been a challenge for digital health and care innovators, and several initiatives like the DigitalHealth.London accelerator have been launched during the past few years to address this.

Based on information from those involved the programme, which is now in its fourth year, it is estimated that the work of the companies benefitting from their support has resulted in over £75m in savings for the NHS.

Tara Donnelly, NHSX chief digital officer, said the accelerator was “part of a long overdue digital revolution in the NHS”.

“We must create a system whereby healthtech innovators are supported and can really feel our commitment to them and their ground-breaking work. This programme does just that, plus it supports the NHS and social care to make the most of the digital opportunity,” Donnelly added.

THE LARGER TREND

In August, the government announced that £250m would be invested in setting up a national AI lab for the NHS, to be launched by NHSX and the Accelerated Access Collaborative. 

This week, it was also revealed that over £130m would be allocated to projects using advances in digital technology to enable earlier diagnosis and better treatment for cancer, dementia and other debilitating diseases.

ON THE RECORD

“Digital technologies are not only creating new opportunities to change things for patients, they are also creating new opportunities to make things better for staff, and the wider system,” said Sara Nelson, DigitalHealth.London accelerator programme director. 

“We all share the ultimate objective of making our NHS sustainable and I am looking forward to helping the next set of digital innovators make this a reality,” Nelson added.

Theo Blackwell, chief digital officer for London, said: “I am delighted to support the Accelerator and this latest intake of digital health companies looking to bring their innovations to Londoners.

“The programme’s work ensures that London is at the forefront of digital innovation and is vital to building a future where its citizens benefit from the latest technologies to support their health.”