Challenges

Each AHSN issues challenges in response to defined NHS needs. They describe the needs of the NHS in a local or national context and are shown on the AHSN page. They set out the market opportunity for an innovator – you can also view all challenges across the AHSN network.

Find your nearest AHSN

£300,000 funding and support programme available for companies with innovative healthcare solutions

Organisations can apply for up to £50,000 for innovations supporting clinical management and remote monitoring through the Health Innovation Manchester Innovation Funds

Health Innovation Manchester

Learning Disability: A Call To Action

We have launched a ‘call to action’ to third sector, industry and academia partners to seek new and improved ways of tackling the challenges of supporting citizens in Kent, Surrey and Sussex who have a learning disability. The aim of the call is to determine how we could better support our region through delivering new approaches, or to find additional solutions for existing approaches.

Kent Surrey Sussex

Hospital Episode Statistics data service

Wessex AHSN has access to a platform that allows our staff to query and interrogate Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data. HES data is a database containing details of all admissions, ED attendances and outpatient appointments at NHS hospitals in England. Access to this data allows us to quantify the existing scale and costs of specific patient pathways, which can be used by innovators as a lever for change to demonstrate the improvements they can bring to the NHS.

Wessex

Prevention of ill health

Combatting preventable causes of disease is a key NHS priority. According to the King’s Fund, seven in ten adults do not follow the NHS-recommended guidelines on tobacco, alcohol, diet and physical activity, which contribute to such health conditions as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and poor mental health. NHS organisations need to collaborate with local authorities and other partners to provide the tools, support and education to help south Londoners tackle the causes of poor health, live healthier lifestyles and close the physical and mental health gap.

Health Innovation Network South London

Improving interventions and reducing invasive investigations in cardiovascular disease

Despite being one of the most preventable and intervenable health conditions, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is responsible for one in four premature deaths in the UK and accounts for the largest gap in healthy life expectancy. It is identified as the single biggest condition where lives can be saved by the NHS over the next 10 years. As such, the NHS has an ambition to help prevent over 150,000 heart attacks, strokes and dementia cases over the next 10 years. What innovations could be deployed to help solve this significant, unmet health need?

Health Innovation Network South London

Urgent and Emergency Care

SBRI Healthcare have announced a new funding competition to develop solutions to challenges in Urgent and Emergency Care. Applications open from 15 July and close on 27 August 2020 at 1pm. Companies and individuals interested should apply via the SBRI Healthcare website.

National

One Health Campaign

A Scale-Up Programme from SETSquared that will invest £100k+ into R&D project proposal development for a significant number of open and themed One Health funds including Bio/Med tech focused on disease prevention, precision medicine and other novel medical solutions.

West of England

Funding for ideas that address COVID-19

UK Research & Innovationare offering rapid response for short term research and innovation projects addressing and mitigating the health, social, economic and environmental impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak.

West of England

Cardiovascular disease prevention

UCLPartners is committed to progressing its Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) prevention programme to drive large scale prevention of heart attacks, strokes and other circulatory problems.

UCLPartners

Self-management

To help ease the high demand on GPs across south London, self-management is a priority in the NHS Ten-Year Plan and focuses on key areas like diabetes prevention and management, cardiovascular, asthma and respiratory conditions, maternity and parenting support and online therapies for common mental health problems.

Health Innovation Network South London

Social care

With a growing population of older and disabled adults, London’s demand for care is placing the social care system under huge strain. Further to this, London Councils estimates that boroughs across the city have experienced a combined loss of more than £4 billion in core funding since 2010 (a reduction of around 63%). We need to think differently about how and where services are delivered, utilising digital solutions to maximise the workforce and care provided.

Health Innovation Network South London

National survey of local innovation and research needs of the NHS

The AHSN Network commissioned an independent research consultancy, ComRes, to design, implement and deliver a survey that would provide a detailed understanding of the innovation and research needs at local level and across all AHSNs, the findings of this survey were published in April 2019.

National