Making a difference to the health and wellbeing of the West Midlands
The Health and Wellbeing of the nation is in challenging times. We will help address the real world health led challenges through fostering and developing innovation. We seek to encourage interested businesses and SMEs to create the solutions, and we will support their development through the provision of support, space, networks and mentoring. All with the aim of creating and commercialising innovative solutions for the benefit of the health and economy of the region and beyond.
Launch funded by the West Midlands Combined Authority, the network is driven by the University of Warwick in partnership with University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust and Bruntwood SciTech.
Who do we support?
We bring together innovators, entrepreneurs, SMEs and corporate organisations.
Working with academics, clinicians, health sector organisations, students, experts, alumni, suppliers and investors to make a difference to the health and wellbeing of the West Midlands.
Challenges
The West Midlands Health and Wellbeing Innovation Network will focus on finding businesses that solve five key challenge areas that have been defined by Challenge Owners within the University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire. Each Challenge Area could have multiple solutions and businesses could pivot existing products to meet the criteria of the challenge. Businesses that apply for the programme will be guided through a product development exercise to meet the requirements of the challenges in collaboration with the Challenge Owners, University of Warwick Innovation Team and Bruntwood SciTech Innovation Team.
Click the links below to see our next two challenges
Cohort 2 | Challenge 1 – Patient Flow through the hospital
How might we optimise the handover of patients between wards as they progress through their care to be more time efficient?
Example
Currently staff rely on bleeps, phone calls and paper documentation transferring patients to ward areas. Conversely admitting clinicians cannot see live bed availability across the Trust. This leads to wasted time waiting for calls to be answered, phones left unattended after bleeping wards and often means wards don’t have details of the patient when they arrive.
We’re looking for solutions that:
- Track and report indoor location of patients and route plan through the hospital
- For Example Indoor geo positioning technologies
- Connect and assign records and details to patients for instant retrieval
- For Example Proximity based data retrieval systems
Cohort 2 | Challenge 2 – Patient status visibility
How might we ensure that patients have maximum visibility of the next steps in their care when in the hospital?
Example
Improved visibility of the patient journey is also valuable for patients who, for instance, often do not know how long they’ll be waiting for the next touchpoint and the successive steps they can expect. This could be whilst in A&E or whilst on a ward. This knowledge would improve the patient experience and making it visible to friends and family would also be beneficial.
We’re looking for solutions that:
- Surface the next steps in patient care to their devices
- For Example Notification systems
- Enable patients to share their status and next steps with family members
- Secure messaging platforms
Our Aims for the Region…
The West Midlands will drive new innovations based on clinical and patient need and tested in an enabled and inter-connected real world environment. 
We will continue to seek investment in the business support and networks needed to drive cluster development across the region. 
Challenges for health pre and post Covid-19, need a concerted effort to address existing and new circumstances – waiting lists, ageing populations, digital solutions, robotics, new diseases and management. 
Innovation to create new businesses, products and services will add to the economic development of the region.
Cohort 1 Challenges – What have we achieved so far?
Check out the different types of funding available here.
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