A new fast-track scheme has been created to speed up the development and rollout of technological innovations within the NHS in Scotland.
The Centre for Sustainable Delivery – based at the NHS Golden Jubilee Hospital in Glasgow – is leading the Accelerated National Innovation Adoption (ANIA) pathway to bring the benefits of breakthroughs more quickly to patients.
The announcement was made at today’s NHS Scotland Event 2022 at the P&J Live exhibition centre in Aberdeen.
According to the NHS, ANIA will ‘lead robust value assessment to help prioritise the best innovations that will improve patient outcomes and experience, improve staff experience and which are both financially and environmentally sustainable’.
It will also ‘create the conditions for success, such as workforce, training, infrastructure and clinical leadership’.
Innovations currently being evaluated on the ANIA pathway include digital dermatology and heart failure, chest x-ray artificial intelligence and a theatre scheduling tool.
Heath Secretary Humza Yousaf MSP said: “The Accelerated National Innovation Adoption (ANIA) Pathway brings together expertise from across NHS Scotland, academia and industry to accelerate the adoption of technological innovations which will help renew and transform our healthcare services.
“Using this approach to work collaboratively means we can identify, triage, develop and deliver transformative innovations at scale to benefit patients across NHS Scotland.
“This will be targeted as supporting NHS recovery alongside improved life expectancy, faster diagnosis, improved quality of life and reduced waiting times.”
The ANIA pathway is delivered by the ANIA Collaborative, which includes the national Centre for Sustainable Delivery, Digital Health and Care Scotland, Healthcare Improvement Scotland, NHS Education for Scotland, NHS National Services Scotland, Public Health Scotland and the Scottish Health and Industry Partnership.
The national Centre for Sustainable Delivery at NHS Golden Jubilee is responsible for overall coordination, governance and programme management of the ANIA pathway.
Professor Jann Gardner, chief executive of NHS Golden Jubilee and chair of the ANIA Collaborative, said: “The ANIA Collaborative are committed to seeking out innovative solutions to complex problems and to implement these at pace on a Once for Scotland basis.
“Working together with colleagues across NHS Scotland, academia and industry, we can be greater than the sum of our parts, bringing patient centred innovation to our patients.
“The national Centre for Sustainable Delivery at NHS Golden Jubilee has been set up specifically to renew and transform healthcare services across NHS Scotland.
“As a national organisation which delivers care through collaboration, NHS Golden Jubilee is delighted to be working with our NHS Scotland and Scottish Government colleagues in the ANIA Collaborative to positively impact on patient outcomes, provide faster access treatment, and ensure equal access to care.”