Wessex Innovate Call

Wessex Innovate Call (Innovation Adoption Support)

Background

We know that successfully implementing innovation is not easy. The perceptions that people have of an innovation is predicted to account for between 50% and 85% of the variance in the rate of adoption and spread.

Supporting implementation in practice is a vital part of the pathway towards success and a core part of our work. By deploying innovation, it helps to improve patient outcomes, drive economic growth in the health and life science sectors and is a vital part of the pathway towards adoption-readiness for a health innovation. 

Call overview

With this call, we seek to help innovators and NHS providers sustainably adopt proven innovation. The Wessex Innovate call will award an NHS provider and their preferred innovation supplier the opportunity to work in partnership with Health innovation Wessex (HIW).

HIW has a wealth of real-world and evidence-based approaches to supporting the implementation of innovation which this award will offer to the successful applicants. The deployment support will be undertaken by our Innovation Adoption Team, which specialises in innovation implementation. Deployment plans will be co-designed with the innovator and the NHS provider site(s), to demonstrate the impact of the product in the intended healthcare setting. 

This is a competitive process to select innovators and/or providers who are well-placed to benefit from a deployment of an innovation, can demonstrate their readiness to undertake the deployment (see Eligibility and Selection Criteria), and are likely to benefit in terms of commercial growth as a result. 

What will you receive?

The successful applicants will receive a deployment package of programme manager support one day a week for six months, which covers: 

•A complete deployment specification to include a detailed implementation plan co-designed with the innovator and evaluation site(s). 

•Delivery of the deployment specification to include dedicated programme manager support, advice and guidance on implementation methodology, and a final report. 

We anticipate that the scope and scale of the project will not exceed 26 days of HIW time over a period of six months; however, the exact number of days and the delivery timeline will be agreed with the innovator and NHS provider as part of specifying the deployment programme. 

We will consider applications from innovators who wish to contribute additional funding/capacity to support any deployment that requires greater scope and scale. There is the opportunity to describe any additional funding/capacity in the application form. 

Call details

Eligibility and selection criteria 

You are eligible to apply for the Wessex innovate Call if you meet all the following criteria: 

1. Wessex has not provided deployment support for your innovation already.

2. You have an agreement in place to undertake this deployment, or a pilot is already underway which you have agreement to scale up.

3. The programme can commence before March 2024. 

4. Regulatory compliance is held as a medical device for the intended use in this deployment, or a letter on file from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) or a medical device regulatory specialist confirming that the system does not fall within the definition of a medical device.

5. If applying with a digital technology: a. Compliance with NHS Digital Technology Assessment Criteria (DTAC), or actively working towards it and an existing knowledge of the areas where the innovation may be currently non-compliant. b. Evidence from structured testing with real users in a test environment that the innovation functions as intended and is safe to put into live use. 

6. Both the innovator and the NHS provider will need to be willing to comply with clinical safety standards DBC0160 and DBC0129 appropriately (one each).

7. Your implementation will take place within Southern England (South West and South East).

8. You are willing to work with our communications team to capture case studies relating to the implementation.

If you are not sure about your eligibility, please contact Emma Williams on emma.williams@hiwessex.net

Overview of call timeline

Application form

Please view our application form 

Please view our terms and conditions

Health Innovation Wessex 

Our team is made up of over 50 clinical and non-clinical experts from across multiple sectors. We have extensive knowledge and experience in health, social care, academia, life science and research. We improve people’s health, achieve excellence in health and care, and boost innovation and growth in the life sciences and healthcare sector. We connect academics, NHS, industry, and others to bring fresh energy to health and care challenges and support the spread and adoption of innovation, speeding up the sharing of evidence-based best practice.

To note:

•Our support does not guarantee adoption.

•The call is not a sales link for suppliers looking for sales opportunities locally, nor will Health Innovation Wessex (HIW) act as a sales team on behalf of an innovator. 

•Bespoke support will never see HIW undertaking implementation on behalf of an innovator.

•HIW is innovation agnostic – our support does not equal backing/validation/endorsement.