Innovative projects in Devon and Cornwall will receive a share of a £2.5m fund to help change patients’ lives and improve care through innovation.

A total of eight projects in the area were announced as winners of the NHS England’s Regional Innovation Fund which was launched in April to support and promote the adoption and spread of innovation across the NHS. It provides opportunities for clinicians to work in new ways driving innovation which can change patients’ lives.

Organisations could apply for sums up to £50,000 for individual applications and up to £250,000 for those working collaboratively. They include helping ‘home’ the homeless when they leave hospital, home testing for HIV and perfecting depression care.

Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust, working in partnership with Community Housing Aid, received money for their project ‘Bay6’. Its aim is to prevent homeless people being discharged from hospital and acts as a mediator between the hospital medical staff, social services/housing agencies and the voluntary sector to rapidly speed up the patient’s discharge into safe and secure accommodation. As a result, hospital medical staff are freed up and beds are released more quickly for other patients. Readmission through A&E can also be reduced.

Sheila Guinchard, Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust’s Lead for Patient Flow, said: “Bay6 have provided valuable support so far in the short time we have been working with them and I believe their work could help to reduce re-admittance into the Emergency Department and speed up the discharge process, releasing beds quicker and freeing up our staff to treat other patients sooner.

“We are a caring profession and we want to know our patients have somewhere safe to go to after discharge. Through our partnership with Bay6 we are giving some of our most vulnerable patients a better chance to turn their lives around.”

Stuart Hooper, Director of Community Housing Aid, said the charity would now explore ways to secure longer-term funding so the project could continue after April next year.

He said: “We are hugely grateful that our project has been recognised by NHS England. No-one should leave hospital as homeless and our work improves the health and well-being of an often marginalised part of society. We also know that doing so can benefit hospitals, local authorities and Clinical Commissioning Groups financially.”

The Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust also won for two other projects – including the development of virtual ward whiteboard to support prioritisation of ward pharmacy services.

Other winning organisations in the area include:

• Northern, Eastern and Western Devon CCG – for a project around improving pathology services which will be available as a website and iPhone, Android and SmartPhone app.
• Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust – for a scheme to improve access to HIV testing by providing free web based service for home HIV testing using oral sampling and creating a sustainable online support community for a diabetes clinic
• NHS England South West Region – for a project to prevent pressure ulcers using a system that has a patient turn timer to monitor patients susceptible to pressure ulcers.
• NHS Innovations South West –funding for a 3-Day CCG Innovation Skills Training Programme for CCG members in 2014
• NHS Kernow St Austell – following a successful pilot this award funds the roll-out of a Living Well programme for older people in Penwith to help with self-care in an area of Cornwall with significant deprivation.

Simon Stevens, Chief Executive, NHS England said: “Once again frontline clinicians and NHS managers are proving that – given the chance – the NHS can be one of the most innovative health services in the world.”

Bids for the Regional Innovation Fund were invited from all NHS organisations, including acute trusts, Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs), and Clinical Commissioning Groups. Organisations were also encouraged to work with their health and social care partnerships to collaborate on the development of their bids.

More than 600 organisations applied for money from the fund to invest in new, innovative practice or to develop existing areas. Of the 600 application, 46 winners were chosen and awarded money to invest in their idea.