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

A total of two 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.

North Bristol NHS Trust received money for a Foundation in Quality Improvement Course which teaches foundation doctors about patient safety and leadership by facilitating junior doctor led quality improvement projects.

Katherine Finucane, Foundation tutor and foundation lead for Quality Improvement at North Bristol NHS Trust, said:  “As part of their foundation training programme, first year doctors are invited to work on a project to improve patient safety.

“They choose issues that they note during their working day and, with the facilitation of the postgraduate education team, work through the problems producing solutions while learning about quality improvement.

“This training has been offered for five years at North Bristol NHS Trust and has led to sustained changes that have helped with the patient journey at our hospitals.

“Now the Trust is looking to spread the programme to other junior doctors as well as other healthcare workers and has applied for funding to support the work.

“The funding from the Regional Innovation Fund will be used to train a faculty of senior doctors at the Trust in quality improvement methodology and mentoring. This faculty will help facilitate projects for trainees allowing the Quality Improvement (QI) programme to spread.

“We are happy to have received a really good response to a call for volunteer senior doctors to be involved in the QI training and it is fantastic that we now have the funding to train them.”

The other winning organisation was University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust which received money for setting up its Video Pre-operative Assessment Clinic which aims to reduce follow-up clinics for out of area patients by use of video assessment for those awaiting surgery.

Deborah Lee, Divisional Director for Surgery and Deputy Chief Executive, said: “The value of pre-operative assessment is recognised as an important part of most surgical pathways as a means of reducing the likelihood of complications following surgery and promoting a speedy recovery.

“As a provider which delivers services to the whole of the Southwest, enabling patients to receive care without the need for an often lengthy trip to hospital, with the associated inconvenience of parking at a city centre hospital, is a key goal for the Trust as we continually seek to find ways to improve the experience of hospital care for our patients.

“This kind of innovation also has the added bonus of contributing to our “green credentials” which is another priority for us – a win:win for patients and our environment.”

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.