Older people with complex health needs to benefit from SBRI healthcare funding in Wessex

SBRI Healthcare, an NHS England-funded initiative to develop innovative products which address unmet health needs, today announced a further 11 companies will benefit from SBRI Healthcare funding this year in a competition to address challenges in older people with multiple-morbidities.

Two of these 11 companies are in the Wessex region - JVS Products Ltd (Eastleigh, Hampshire) and Buckingham Healthcare (Blandford Forum, Dorset).

Looking to accelerate the development and NHS adoption of new technologies, the £1 million phase 1 award will be shared by small businesses working in the priority problem areas of: falls, incontinence and decline in functional ability.

In Wessex, JVS Products Ltd is working on incontinence; and has been awarded £98,814 to develop a simple, one-step cleaning method for intermittent catheters to help frail, disabled and older people to easily reuse their catheters.

Buckingham Healthcare will work on functional ability; and has been awarded £13,805 to develop an exercise system for inpatients. Their revolutionary device aims to help patients strengthen the vital muscle group used in sit to stand; safely being able to rise from a chair or from bed. This will accelerate their safe discharge from hospital to home, generating clear benefits to patients and significant savings to the NHS.

Full details of these projects are below.

“We are pleased to see companies stepping forward with innovative ideas to address one of the biggest challenges that the NHS faces at the moment – supporting older people who are living longer but also living with a range of chronic conditions,” commented Andy Burroughs, commercial director at Wessex AHSN.

“At Wessex AHSN, we offer an SBRI support service, and have provided advice and guidance to organisations in our patch. We helped the organisations with a detailed overview of the SBRI competition process, and offered guidance for the application submission and helped prepare the businesses for the interviews.”

SBRI Healthcare works with leading healthcare players to identify areas where technology can be applied to address major healthcare challenges.

The 11 successful projects have been selected on their potential value to the health service and on the improved outcomes delivered to patients. The companies will be supported and fully funded to demonstrate the technical feasibility of their proposed concept for a six month development phase. Those businesses demonstrating best value and greatest technical feasibility in phase 1 will progress through to phase 2 to be further supported and funded to take their technologies through to commercialisation.

To find out more visit SBRI Healthcare's website.