SBRI Competition - Welsh Ambulance: Changing the Way We Deliver Emergency Care

The SBRI Centre of Excellence is funded by Welsh Government and hosted within Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board to work with Public Sector Bodies to identify and resolve unmet needs/challenges within health. We do this by running competitions inviting Industry and Academia to work with us to develop innovative and exciting solutions to improve the health and wellbeing of those living in Wales.

Working with the Welsh Ambulance Service Trust (WAST) we would like to invite industry to enable us to provide care closer to home. Innovative solutions are sought to enhance one (or more) of the following themes:

Improving capabilities in the pre-hospital setting that can enable patients to be cared for closer to home. This could include Point of Care Testing (e.g. blood tests with rapid results), wearable technology solutions and mobile scanning equipment; and

Use of technology to support patient care, enhance communication and improve patient safety during initial diagnosis or in cases of prolonged community waits for an ambulance or 111 response, or awaiting an urgent appointment at a place of definitive care.

We are looking for solutions that will provide a positive outcome with high-impact for the population of Wales. In particular, demand for ambulance/Urgent and Emergency Care services is high for:

People that have fallen - patients that have been on the floor for a significant amount of time (long lies);

People experiencing respiratory problems – especially acute exacerbations of chronic conditions; and

People experiencing chest pain – where the nature of the pain cannot currently be confirmed in the pre-hospital setting.

There are many diagnostic solutions on the market. This challenge aims to bring solutions together to develop an ambulance sector solution for use in the pre-hospital environment.

We are looking to identify, develop and demonstrate technology and equipment that could:

Be suitable for mobile use (pre-hospital use);

Fit into the current infrastructure and be deployable across vehicle types;

Use artificial intelligence, augmented technology and or natural language processing to enhance current systems and processes;

Be suitable for use across pre-hospital clinical professionals/response personnel;

Support appropriate use of ambulances by the community;

Build community resilience to support patients at home during an episode of urgent/emergency care need;

Enable decision making and care to be provided closer to home;

Support patients’ continued independent living;

Complement and encourage community support; and

Be sustainable and affordable for both the public sector and the patient.

Out of Scope:

Replacement of vehicles; and

Integration to any national systems.

Challenge phases structure

Phase 1: Development – From a total of 225,000, we expect to fund up to 3 projects up to a value of 75,000 (inclusive of VAT) each.

Note: Only projects successful at Phase 1 will be eligible to apply to Phases 2 and 3.

Phase 2: Testing – This Phase will be to robustly test, in a real-life environment, up to 3 of the successful Phase 1 solutions from a total fund of up to 800,000. We expect to fund up to 3 projects at up to 265,000 (inclusive of VAT) each.

In applying to this Phase 1 competition, you are entering into a competitive process. Any adoption and implementation of a solution from this competition would be subject to a separate, possibly competitive, procurement exercise. This competition does not cover the purchase of any solution, although we will investigate and explore innovative procurement routes as part of this challenge, should a successful solution emerge.

The total funding available for the competition can change. The funders have the right to:

Adjust the provisional funding allocations between the phases;

Apply a ‘portfolio’ approach; and

Fund a Phase 3 to allow thorough, more widespread testing of the developed solutions.

The SBRI Centre of Excellence is funded by Welsh Government and hosted within Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board to work with Public Sector Bodies to identify and resolve unmet needs/challenges within health. We do this by running competitions inviting Industry and Academia to work with us to develop innovative and exciting solutions to improve the health and wellbeing of those living in Wales.

Working with the Welsh Ambulance Service Trust (WAST) we would like to invite industry to enable us to provide care closer to home. Innovative solutions are sought to enhance one (or more) of the following themes:

Improving capabilities in the pre-hospital setting that can enable patients to be cared for closer to home. This could include Point of Care Testing (e.g. blood tests with rapid results), wearable technology solutions and mobile scanning equipment; and

Use of technology to support patient care, enhance communication and improve patient safety during initial diagnosis or in cases of prolonged community waits for an ambulance or 111 response, or awaiting an urgent appointment at a place of definitive care.

We are looking for solutions that will provide a positive outcome with high-impact for the population of Wales. In particular, demand for ambulance/Urgent and Emergency Care services is high for:

People that have fallen - patients that have been on the floor for a significant amount of time (long lies);

People experiencing respiratory problems – especially acute exacerbations of chronic conditions; and

People experiencing chest pain – where the nature of the pain cannot currently be confirmed in the pre-hospital setting.

There are many diagnostic solutions on the market. This challenge aims to bring solutions together to develop an ambulance sector solution for use in the pre-hospital environment.

We are looking to identify, develop and demonstrate technology and equipment that could:

Be suitable for mobile use (pre-hospital use);

Fit into the current infrastructure and be deployable across vehicle types;

Use artificial intelligence, augmented technology and or natural language processing to enhance current systems and processes;

Be suitable for use across pre-hospital clinical professionals/response personnel;

Support appropriate use of ambulances by the community;

Build community resilience to support patients at home during an episode of urgent/emergency care need;

Enable decision making and care to be provided closer to home;

Support patients’ continued independent living;

Complement and encourage community support; and

Be sustainable and affordable for both the public sector and the patient.

Out of Scope:

Replacement of vehicles; and

Integration to any national systems.

Challenge phases structure

Phase 1: Development – From a total of 225,000, we expect to fund up to 3 projects up to a value of 75,000 (inclusive of VAT) each.

Note: Only projects successful at Phase 1 will be eligible to apply to Phases 2 and 3.

Phase 2: Testing – This Phase will be to robustly test, in a real-life environment, up to 3 of the successful Phase 1 solutions from a total fund of up to 800,000. We expect to fund up to 3 projects at up to 265,000 (inclusive of VAT) each.

In applying to this Phase 1 competition, you are entering into a competitive process. Any adoption and implementation of a solution from this competition would be subject to a separate, possibly competitive, procurement exercise. This competition does not cover the purchase of any solution, although we will investigate and explore innovative procurement routes as part of this challenge, should a successful solution emerge.

The total funding available for the competition can change. The funders have the right to:

Adjust the provisional funding allocations between the phases;

Apply a ‘portfolio’ approach; and

Fund a Phase 3 to allow thorough, more widespread testing of the developed solutions.