Innovation
solution by becoming advocates of action for reducing medical waste and emissions, as well as facilitators helping to identify opportunities. There are countless areas for NHS innovators
to get involved in improving care. We know around one in five women develop a mental health problem during pregnancy or within the immediate years after having a baby. It’s an area with massive opportunity to make vital interventions aimed at reducing inequalities, in order to provide the right care – regardless of location, income, or ethnicity.
NHS staff, particularly nurses and midwives in this case, often see first-hand the mental health issues, both mild and severe, which new mothers can struggle with, and understand what a vulnerable period it can be. Their immense knowledge, experience, and diversity can be leveraged to identify the breakthroughs that are needed most in maternal mental health, improving how the service provides the right care for every woman and baby, while caplitalising on new technology such as genomics and AI, to bridge gaps in unmet need – from the ability to predict complications before they happen to targeted treatments where they arise. They are also essential champions for
improving sexual and reproductive health, not to mention accessible NHS workers who are responsive to the needs of communities. Fundamentally, targeting population groups at risk of service inequality with progressive new approaches is essential.
Combining clinical and commercial know-how However, fresh ideas only go so far. They must be protected if they are to be fully harnessed. Without ownership over the intellectual property (IP) of what has been created or invented, anyone, regardless of permission, can use and adapt that idea without adequately compensating the innovator(s). Protecting IP is therefore crucial to ideas originating from NHS Scotland. It secures the interests of both the health professional/ innovator, and the health board. Seeking out the right advice with skilled, experienced individuals able to advise and provide support throughout this process, ensures the NHS is protected in commercial negotiations. Ultimately, an innovative idea is just the start.
Translating that spark of inspiration into viable products and services requires a significant investment of time, resource and expertise – from securing funding and appointing third party suppliers, to mobilising resources. Effective project management underpins the innovation process, guiding health and
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social care staff through it, while alleviating the pressure of balancing clinical and personal commitments. Project management support is often crucial to keep the development process moving. It ensures effective communication, regular updates, and adherence to key milestones; in addition to important processes such as prototyping, validating data, and providing evidence that the idea will create value. We cannot be naïve about how busy health and social care staff are, and building in project management support helps to accelerate that initial idea into a tangible medical device, product, or technology for use in hospitals, care homes and on-scene emergency settings.
Effective advice on medical device regulation and making their design and use as equitable as possible, is another important facet of accelerating today’s healthcare innovation landscape, and one that must be considered by all NHS innovators. A recent independent review confirmed that minority ethnic people, women, and people from deprived communities are at most risk of poorer healthcare because of those potential biases, and it urged improvement. The greater focus on eradicating inequalities is to be welcomed and will in turn support better innovation, designed from the outset to meet the needs of all. It is encouraging that proactive steps are being taken to resolve what is a concerning issue, which can see some of the most marginalised members of society not receiving the right treatment due to basic lack of consideration for their needs. There is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to equitable healthcare. The final report made it clear that inequalities in the design and use of medical devices can arise – and have arisen – from lack of diversity across the health research workforce, combined with lack of co-production, and an absence of fundamental equality considerations. That is a situation that is not in-keeping with expected standards of inclusivity in healthcare and a fairer NHS. The COVID pandemic raised concerns over the accuracy of pulse oximeters for patients with darker skin tones, and the report found ‘extensive evidence’ of those concerns being founded. The report further noted AI’s ‘great potential benefits to medicine but also possible harm through inherent bias against certain groups in the population’. This, it rightly concluded, means that existing biases in society could be incorporated throughout the lifecycle of AI-enabled medical devices, and then magnified through further development. With AI increasingly coming to
the fore in healthcare innovation, this is a vital ethical point. AI’s advancement and integration has been largely positive so far but must be very carefully monitored, as its outputs are essentially a product of the data source it is given and that is then perpetuated. The question which must be immediately asked is whether that is the correct data to begin with. Requesting that applications for the approval of new medical devices describe how they will address issues of bias is a positive step forward. However, fast integration into NHS Scotland is what we all ultimately want and the Accelerated National Innovation Adoption (ANIA) Pathway4 facilitates that, with its focus on reducing barriers to national rollout by using technology to fast-track proven ideas into frontline healthcare.
Collaboration Against the backdrop of NHS Scotland recovery aims, a strong, collaborative suite of innovation support, education and empowerment must continue to support the health service as it adapts, evolves, and accelerates the development of the leading healthcare breakthroughs of tomorrow.
CSJ
References 1. Accessed at:
https://nhscep.com/ 2. Accessed at:
https://nhscep.com/apply-now/ 3. Accessed at:
https://www.techscaler.co.uk/ 4. Accessed at:
https://www.nhscfsd.co.uk/ media/euil5qvw/introducing-the-ania- pathway-booklet-a5-1.pdf
About the author
Gillian Henderson is a graduate in Applied Chemistry from the University of Strathclyde and has over 15 years’ experience in Medical Device development, sales and marketing. She has worked with InnoScot Health for seven years, and prior to this was involved in a number of Scottish SMEs and medical device start-ups.
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