The AHSN Network has supported many innovators to help advance our health and care system. Find out more about successful innovations supported by the NHS.
The Oxford AHSN Accelerator programme, in collaboration with BioCity and regional partners from the NHS, industry and research within the Thames Valley, offers a launchpad for entrepreneurs and their ventures to move from idea to market. MetaGuideX won a place on the intensive eight-week programme and pitched to investors on the final day of the Accelerator programme in November 2020.
The Oxford AHSN already enjoys a very productive relationship with the global healthcare company Johnson & Johnson (J&J). J&J is one of the largest employers linked to healthcare in our region with its headquarters in High Wycombe.
The cobas® Liat® System is a fast, easy-to-use, compact PCR system designed for on-demand testing in point-of-care settings such as clinics, pharmacies, and hospital and satellite laboratories. The Oxford AHSN assisted in the first UK based evaluation of the the cobas® Liat® Influenza A/B test, in the Emergency Department (ED) of the Royal Berkshire Hospital, which provides secondary emergency care for most of Berkshire. The test is a PCR based test using either nasopharyngeal or throat swabs and requires minimal sample preparation. The evaluation aimed to see if the test reduced patient length of stay, reduced antibiotic use and increased the use of antivirals. The Oxford AHSN project managed the evaluation and provided active, hands-on support. The Oxford AHSN also enlisted York Health Economics Consortium (YHEC) to provide impartial health economics, using the metrics collected during the evaluation and anonymised data. The health economic data was then used to inform the business case for the Trust procuring the tests going forward. Plans to roll out the test in community settings have been put on hold pending a product update to include a Covid-19 test.
Quick, accurate blood tests which can help rule out pre-eclampsia are improving care for pregnant women and their unborn babies, reducing anxiety and saving the NHS money. AHSNs are leading a rapid adoption project for these tests into maternity units across the country.
New artificial intelligence (AI)-driven imaging support software which has the potential to deliver huge benefits to hundreds of stroke patients each year and significant cost savings to the NHS has been implemented at the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust (RBH). The Oxford AHSN is supporting wider regional roll-out backed by NHS England. The CE-marked e-Stroke Suite developed by Brainomix Ltd includes tools for non-contrast CT and CT angiography brain scans, connecting physicians and facilitating information transfer. The software supports physicians in identifying patients who would benefit from acute stroke treatments, selecting patients most likely to benefit from specific interventions, such as mechanical thrombectomy.
Stroke affects 100,000 people in the UK each year . 33% of patients will die and 90% of survivors will have a disability for the rest of their lives.
The Oxford AHSN Strategyzer half to one day workshops are run for companies that have a product or innovation and want to explore the viability of their concept for the NHS or want to move into the NHS market.
Wokingham Community Hospital purchased two different Point of Care (POC) diagnostic test devices for their elderly in-patient unit and wanted to evaluate the impact of attaining results more quickly and understand how it could help the nurses make effective decisions regarding treatment. The Oxford AHSN assisted by reporting the economic cost-consequence analysis of the two tests, determining what the cost benefit would be to the hospital by using Point of Care testing and extrapolate the benefits to the other community hospitals. QuickRead Go CRP is a rapid blood test for the quantitative determination of C-reactive protein that shows if there is inflammation or infection in the body. Alinity i-STAT is a portable blood testing machine with a cartridge for urea and electrolytes (U&E) that the nurses used to assess the kidney function of the patient. The tests enabled healthcare professionals to rapidly diagnose patients, and the greatest benefit came in knowing which patients did not need to be sent to the local Emergency Department (ED).
Owen Mumford is a global leader in medical device design and manufacturing who worked with the Oxford AHSN to explore the advantages of introducing a new rapid point of care HIV test, which has a simple sample collection system and provides a prompt result to help support the early diagnosis of HIV.
UK ambulance services have been identified as potential beneficiaries of point of care testing (POCT) to guide patient management and care pathways, but there is little published evidence on the uses, benefits and health economics of POCT in pre-hospital settings. The Oxford AHSN, along with eight specialist paramedics based at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, conducted a quality improvement study to look at utilising POCT to aid decision-making in patients aged over 65 presenting to South Central Ambulance Service with acute frailty syndrome.
A new point of care blood testing device is being introduced into frontline NHS services after an evaluation at three hospitals showed that it reduced A&E waiting times and helped clinicians make quicker decisions and get it right first time.
