There is an exciting opportunity to work with the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust (WAST) and Health Boards within Wales to reduce the unprecedented demand on both ambulances and Urgent & Emergency Care services across Wales. Our patients are waiting longer than they should for an ambulance response and once at hospital (Emergency Department (ED), can spend a considerable amount of time in the ambulance before handover to the ED clinical teams.
We would like to be able to transform the way urgent and emergency care is given, looking to support WAST’s strategic ambition to care for more patients in their own home or in a community setting, thus safely reducing the number of patients requiring conveyance to hospital.
There is an opportunity to enhance the WAST infrastructure to allow us to provide care closer to home. WAST is a ‘super-connector’ across health and care settings with ambitious plans to transform their service delivery model to improve clinical outcomes, improve patient experience and alleviate ‘system pressure’ upon Urgent & Emergency Care services. To do this, equipping our people with the right tools and technology is important to enable the ‘right care in the right place’.
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.
Replacement of vehicles; and
Integration to any national systems.
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, possiblly 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.
A virtual Briefing Event was held on Thursday 23rd February from 10:00 - 12:00. Please see the slides attached and a recording of the beifing event below:
SBRI-Centre-Presentation-Briefing-Event-Slides.pptx.pdf
SBRI/WAST Briefing Event: Changing the Way We Deliver Emergency Care
Commercial plan notice
Please note if you are successful in Phase 1 and go through to Phase 2, you will need to provide a commercialisation plan/strategy as part of your contractual deliverables.
For any enquiries about this competition e-mail: SBRI.COE@wales.nhs.uk
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.
Click +Create your idea at the top or bottom of this page to begin your submission
Complete every section (A - I) of your submission
Submit your idea prior to the deadline 12:00 Noon GMT 17th March 2023
Please ensure you follow the guidance underneath each of the questions.
Please review the contract prior to application as this is non-negotiable.
Application Guidance Notes
SBRI-Application-Guidance-Notes.docx-.pdf
Application Guidance Notes (Welsh)
SBRI-Application-Guidance-Notes---Welsh-version.docx-.pdf
Example Contract
Example-SBRI-Contract.pdf
Evaluation Questions
-Evaluation-Questions-for-Suppliers.pdf
Evaluation Questions (Welsh)
-Evaluation-Questions-WELSH.pdf
FAQs (Welsh)
SBRI-FAQs---Welsh-version--1-.docx--1-.pdf
FAQs
SBRI-FAQs.pdf
Challenge Brief (Welsh)
Welsh-WAST-Challenge-Brief_final-v1.0.docx.pdf
Challenge Brief
Changing-the-Way-We-Deliver-Emergency-Care-SBRI-Centre-of-Excellence.pdf
Briefing Event Slides
SBRI-Centre-Presentation-Briefing-Event-Slides.pptx.pdf
Supplementary Q&A WAST Briefing Event 23rd February 2023
Supplementary-Q-A-WAST-Briefing-Event-23rd-February-2023.docx--1-.pdf
WAST 2030 Vision
WAST---Our-Vision-for-2030.pdf
Quality & Performance Report
Quality-and-Perfomance-Report-WAST-Jan-2023.pdf