Second round of NHS England s nursing tech fund: with longer to bid, focus on safety From technologies to capabilities 1 Focus on integration for tech fund 2, EHI, 26 March 2014: http://www.ehi.co.uk/news/ EHI/9313/focus-on-integrationfor-%27tech-fund-2%27 2 NHS England s tech fund is changing its approach for the next round of awards, EHI Intelligence, 3 April 2014: http:// www.ehi.co.uk/ehi-intelligence/ ehii-update.cfm?id=923&category=analysis 3 Details of individual awards to trusts are available as updates visible in trust profiles in the EHI Intelligence database. See also Millions spent on mobile tech, EHI, 25 March 2014: http://www. ehi.co.uk/news/ehi/9307/millions-spent-on-mobile-tech 4 Interview with EHI Intelligence The next 70m round of NHS England s nursing technology fund, for which details will be announced in the next few weeks, will focus on capabilities rather than specific technologies, according to head of technology Paul Rice 1. This is similar to the organisation s plans for its main technology fund for NHS trusts 2, but may make a bigger difference to the nursing fund. This is because its first round focused tightly on certain types of hardware; Rice confirmed this will not be the case in future. First round: six 1m awards The first 86 awards from the nursing fund, a total of 30m made to 75 trusts, were tightly focused on specific technologies. 38% of the money went to fund observation systems at acute trusts, with an average grant of 548,000, nearly twice the overall average of 303,000. An example of this is the Bedside Nurse Observations project by Gateshead Health NHS Foundation, for which it won 649,638. A further 38% went on mobile technology projects in a range of trusts, with an average grant of 365,000; an example is West Suffolk NHS Foundation s Community midwifery service goes digital work, one of several mobile projects focused on midwives, which received 246,097. NHS England made six grants of 1m, with South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation receiving 1.444m in two grants: 1m for vital signs monitoring (one of the observations projects) and 444,000 for a community PAS 3. This shows that NHS England is willing to make grants of a significant size, and multiple awards to trusts with more than one worthwhile project. Suppliers should encourage their customers to bid accordingly. A full table of the awards is at the end of this document. Issues with round one s had to spend the first round money by the end of the 2013-14 financial year, and the NHS may not have received best value as a result. If you re asking to spend half a million pounds in a short period of time, you buy a lot of equipment, said one CIO who was successful in the first round, adding that the trust would usually buy 50 units to test reliability and usability, then place larger orders later. It s the small window you have had to spend the money that has caused the problems, the CIO added 4. Such rushed purchases can provide significant business for suppliers, but they may also be a one-off rather than the start of a relationship. The second round, which will start in the next couple of months, should be less rushed. 1
Second round: longer to bid 5 Interview with EHI Intelligence 6 Ibid 2 7 Halving avoidable harm and saving up to 6,000 lives, Department of Health, 26 March 2014: https://www.gov.uk/ government/news/halvingavoidable-harm-and-saving-upto-6000-lives 8 Halving avoidable harm and saving up to 6,000 lives, Department of Health, 26 March 2014: https://www.gov.uk/ government/news/halvingavoidable-harm-and-saving-upto-6000-lives One interested supplier said that it expects a longer and fuller application process for the second round, with more time for trusts to consider bids. This is likely to see suppliers putting more effort into working with trusts to build the business case for funding, rather than hoping for a windfall. It may also allow trusts to think about new ideas, rather than using the fund to pay for shovel-ready projects that it would have happened anyway, providing chances for suppliers to propose these. However, the interviewee added that the first round had the advantage of urgency, causing trusts to make decisions more quickly, which the second round will probably lack. Again, this suggests suppliers will have to put in more effort this time 5. The supplier said that it is waiting for clarity on how the new round will differ from the first. The timescales and criteria have not yet been published, and suppliers in general will need to pay close attention to NHS England s guidelines. However, some aspects are already clear. Tick boxes and focus on safety Several of EHI Intelligence s recommendations for the tech fund s second round 6 also apply to the nursing fund. Applications should tick boxes wherever possible, including using open source software where this makes sense, ensuring that products use the NHS Number and that they contribute to improving integration and interoperability, both within NHS organisations and between them. More importantly, applications should focus on outcomes, including better clinical results and improved financial efficiency, rather than technologies. Nursing technology has obvious abilities to contribute to health secretary Jeremy Hunt s ambitions for the NHS, including removing paper from processes and improving patient safety. Reducing avoidable harm has been highlighted recently by Hunt 7, and is also a concern for many individual trusts, particularly those that have reported a significant number of never events 8. As a result, suppliers should make a particular effort to highlight safety enhancements when working with trusts to win second round funding. Key findings for suppliers First round shows NHS England willing to award of up to 1m per project and make multiple awards to the same trust Second round is likely to have a longer and fuller application process, requiring more sustained effort from suppliers but more potential to build relationships Funding applications should where possible demonstrate use of open source and NHS Number and improved integration and interoperability Bids should also highlight safety benefits, particularly those cutting avoidable harm to patients 9 NHS IT Infrastructure report, September 2013, EHI Intelligence: http://www.ehi.co.uk/ ehi-intelligence/ehii-reports. cfm?report_id=81 Subscribers can find data on trust infrastructure through the EHI Intelligence database and report on this subject 9 2
10 Nursing technology fund first round, March 2014, NHS England: http://www. england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/ btf-round1-sum-publication.pdf March 2014 awards from Nursing Technology Fund 10 Project Funds awarded ( ) 2gether NHS Foundation Store & Forward Pilot Project 50,000 Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation PICU 164,500 Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS CESI and CEST Using computerised patient assessments to plan and monitor treatment 69,000 Barts Health NHS Paperless Nurse Observations 935,006 Black Country Partnership NHS Foundation VITAL Metrics Tool 89,300 Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Community nurses mobile working 54,000 Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Paperless Midwife 346,000 Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Community Mobile Working 1,000,000 Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Electronic Observations 810,000 Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation ehospital nursing workflows via Rover 630,000 Mobile Working 393,000 Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Cornwall Pioneer Project 303,200 Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Mobile Equipping 696,800 Dartford and Gravesham NHS Patient at a Glance and Emergency Vital Signs tracking 88,000 Devon Partnership NHS Learning Disability Digital Working 103,215 Devon Partnership NHS Mobile Nursing in Mental Health 295,000 Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS Foundation Improving patient nursing through use of technology 400,000 Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Community and Child Health Information System Project 346,000 Ealing Hospital NHS Mobile Community District Nursing Project 450,000 Ealing Hospital NHS Community Midwifery mobile working solution 105,000 East and North Hertfordshire NHS Renal Patient Care: Introduction of WardAware digital observation solution East Cheshire NHS Accelerating Integrated Care and improving Nursing Agility and Care Quality with mobile working 140,000 734,970 East Cheshire NHS Bedside e-observation System 725,030 East London NHS Foundation Community Nursing Mobile Working 198,000 East Sussex Healthcare NHS Bedside Monitoring Project 186,042 Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Bedside Nurse Observations 649,638 Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Community Digital Pens 210,000 Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Vital Signs Monitoring Devices Integration 677,000 Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Electronic Clinical Observation System [e-cobs] 950,000 3
Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Care Planning in the community 70,000 Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Medway Maternity 195,127 King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Electronic Vital Signs and Risk Assessment 537,000 King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Diabetic Footcare 53,000 Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Mobile Device Audit and Education Scheme 70,000 Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Adult Mental Health Service Transformation Agile Working Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Supporting development and implementation of electronic nursing records Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Adult Community Services Electronic Patient Record project 358,000 162,000 774,000 Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Digi Pens 107,000 Liverpool Community Health NHS Connect for Care 196,512 Luton and Dunstable University Hospital NHS Foundation Improving eobs Visibility 260,133 North West London Hospitals NHS Acute inpatient Nurse Handover 203,000 North West London Hospitals NHS Community Midwifery Mobile 121,000 Northampton General Hospital NHS Mobility in the Community 152,000 Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Improving Safety, Quality and Productivity through Mobile Nursing Care on Acute and Community Hospital Wards 388,700 Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Foundation Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Digital Pens for Maternity 36,550 Community Nursing Mobility Project 283,156 Oxford Health NHS Foundation Improving Care Delivery and Care Outcomes 921,600 Oxford University Hospitals NHS Mobile working for Nursing and Midwifery staff to support e-prescribing and bedside data collection 604,000 Oxleas NHS Foundation Digipens for clinical recording and uploading 165,000 Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation eobservation system (VitalPAC) 168,000 Pennine Care NHS Foundation Introduction of mobile technologies enabling community clinicians to access clinical information at the point of care 1,000,000 Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Hospital@Night System 167,000 Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Agile Working in Community Nursing Services 238,000 Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Deployment of electronic clinical recording of nursing observations at the bedside 357,000 Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Bedside Medical Devices/Nurse Mobility 100,650 Salford Royal NHS Foundation Vital Signs Project 767,667 4
Salisbury NHS Foundation CaptureStroke information technology solution for stroke unit data collection Salisbury NHS Foundation Salisbury Specialist Palliative Care Electronic Patient Record 70,000 35,409 Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Nurse Mobile Working 200,000 Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Better information for nurses, better care for patients 1,000,000 Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation VitalPAC 191,145 South Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Mobius Dragon Speech Recognition software 172,584 South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Vital Signs Monitoring 1,000,000 South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation EPR Community Rollout 444,000 Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Electronic Pre-assessment System 88,000 Southern Health NHS Foundation Modern Matron Walk Round Assessment Tool 70,000 Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS VitalPAC 986,361 St George's Healthcare NHS Vital Signs Integrated Monitoring Devices 1,000,000 St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals NHS Infection, Prevention and Control Surveillance System 180,473 Staffordshire and Stoke On Trent Partnership NHS Mobile Working 1,000,000 Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Devices for Nurses 434,875 The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Community Midwives Remote Access 98,000 The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Digital Pre-op 82,000 The Rotherham NHS Foundation Deployment of tablet technology across TRFT Community Nursing 193,300 The Whittington Hospital NHS Community Nursing Technology Support 245,000 The Whittington Hospital NHS Acute Nursing Technology Support 111,000 University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Mobile Working in the Community 252,000 University Hospitals Of Leicester NHS Digital Heartbeat - Capturing Patient Vital Signs 622,000 Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Paperless Ward 50,000 West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Community Midwives Mobile Technology 71,410 West Suffolk NHS Foundation West Suffolk Community midwifery service goes digital 246,097 Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Technological support of the Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialist 59,304 Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Mobile Technology Transforming Patient Care at the Bedside 250,000 Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Mobile IP Phones 60,000 Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Extension of Nursing digital access 200,000 Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Bedside e-vital Signs Observation System 306,000 5