Existing support infrastructure for digital apps and therapies

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) Centre for Value Based Healthcare is led by King’s College London and consists of a team of AI, data science, research and clinical experts across academic institutions, NHS trusts, and multi-national industry organisations. The Centre’s aim is the provision of better patient care by improving diagnoses and tailoring treatment using intelligent systems. The AI Centre for Value Based Healthcare has used the Medical Open Network
for Artificial Intelligence (MONAI) project to develop two platforms that allow NHS trusts to test and deploy AI in clinical practice:

• An AI Deployment Engine (AIDE), an intelligent tool that allows healthcare providers to deploy AI models safely, effectively, and efficiently by enabling the integration of AI models into clinical workflows; and

• A Federated Learning Interoperability Platform (FLIP), which allows extraction of complex predictive patterns to train and validate AI algorithms.

The AI Centre for Value Based Healthcare offers consultancy, training, and research support throughout the AI lifecycle and can be contacted via ai4vbh@kcl.ac.uk.

King’s College London’s e-Research group provides access to a Large Language Model (LLM) AI inference platform (similar to ChatGPT) available at https://ai.create.kcl.ac.uk/

More information and demos of their software are available at https://kclhi.org.

Contact the Digital Health Group lead, Professor Vasa Curcin, via vasa.curcin@kcl.ac.uk.

• the Mind & Body programme, which aims to integrate mental and physical healthcare;

• Life Lines, a secure digital solution to visit people in intensive care;

• the Digital Health Hub, which supports training, co-creation, translation and the acceleration of digital health technologies;

• the Centre for Translational Medicine, which aims to address major health burdens at local, national and global level and offers Clinical Research Excellence Fellowships for health professionals working in translational medicine;

• clinical academic partnerships which bring together clinical and academic experts;

• the Population Health and Equity Programme, which aims to improve urban population health and launched the South East London Coalition for Better Health and Equity in collaboration with the South East London Integrated Care System (ICS) improve physical and mental health outcomes and wellbeing of the population while reducing health inequalities.

Contact KHP via their web-form.

• a cloud platform that provides access to virtual machines,
• high performance computing clusters for large-scale simulations and data analytics,
• Research Data Storage (RDS) with very large capacity for longer term storage and curation,
• a Trusted Research Environment (TRE) that is compliant with NHS Digital audit standards to access and process sensitive data (e.g. Personally Identifiable Information [PII], health records, financial data, confidential research data)
• A Large Language Model inference platform (similar to ChatGPT) available at https://ai.create.kcl.ac.uk/

Contact the e-Research team via support@er.kcl.ac.uk

• randomisation services,

• MACRO clinical trial management software which is ISO/IEC 27001:2002 (Information security, cybersecurity and privacy protection — Information security management systems) certified, and compliant with requirements of the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory (MHRA), UK Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations, EU Clinical Trial Regulations, the US’s Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 11 of electronic records and electric signatures for FDA-regulated activities, the International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH) E6 (R2) Good Clinical Practice (GCP) guidance.

Contact the e-Research team via support@er.kcl.ac.uk

• Medical statistics

• Qualitative social science

• Health economics

• Clinical trials methodology

• Investigational Medicinal Product (IMP) management

• Operational support, clinical trials management, and study delivery

• Public and Patient Involvement and Engagement (PPI-E)

• Psychometrics and validating measures

• Health informatics and mobile health (mHealth)

• Medical devices

An initial appointment can be booked via the NIHR RSS Hub webpage.

The Good Things Foundation is a UK-based digital inclusion charity, whose mission is to help everyone digitally equal, able, and safe. The Good Things Foundation runs

• the National Digital Inclusion Network, a network of over 5000 organisations across the UK who run Digital Inclusion Hubs where people can access and learn how to use the internet for free,
• the Learn My Way platform, which helps people to learn basic digital skills and build confidence in using the internet for free. Materials include an introduction to Artificial Intelligence.
• the National Device Bank, which provides refurbished laptops, mobile phones, and tablets for free to people without access to such a device.
• the National Databank, which provides free mobile SIM cards for people who are unable to access the internet.

Contact the team via hello@goodthingsfoundation.org

The Digital Poverty Alliance aims to end digital poverty for all by 2030 by facilitating collaboration within and between the UK and global community, building an evidence base, advocating against digital poverty from public to government level, and by running proof of concept projects to close evidence gaps. Work includes

• the UK Digital Poverty Evidence Review by Dr Kira Allmann,
• a socio-economic assessment of the implications of digital poverty in the UK by Deloitte,
• case studies,
• the Digital Poverty Alliance Directory with reports and insights for policy-makers and practitioners,
• a blog, webinars, and newsletter,
• Tech4Families, Tech4Youth, and Tech4YoungCarers programmes, which provides laptops, internet connectivity, and digital skills training,
• a School Donation Management Service,
• and free SIM cards from Vodafone for organisations that support individuals who are not otherwise able to afford data,
• the Digital Poverty Alliance National Delivery Plan,
• a signable Charter for Digital Inclusion,
• a Local Authority Network,
• the Digital Poverty Alliance Support Directory,
• and consultancy for the design of a Digital Inclusion Strategy that benefits communities

Contact the Digital Poverty Alliance via hello@digitalpovertyalliance.org

The Housing Association Charitable Trust (HACT) is a charity that works with the housing sector, government, civil society and communities to develop and share innovative approaches to meeting changing needs. HACT particularly aims to help housing providers deliver more effectively within their communities. Of special interest to digital therapies is HACT’s UK social value bank, which allows quantification of social value in terms of improved wellbeing at individual level, at community level, and at societal level in terms of return for investment (an Exchequer value).

NHS England (note that NHS Digital merged with NHS England in 2023) provides

• data, statistics, and publications gathered from and about health and social care systems in England. For assistance, contact the relevant NHS England Service desk
• a guide to achieve digital inclusion for health and social care for healthcare providers, commissioners, and designers. This guide arose partly from the failed NHS Widening Digital Participation programme.

The Health Foundation is an independent charity that invests in and carries out primary research, service improvement, data analytics, health promotion, and policy analyses that focus on the wider factors shaping health and care service inequalities.

Contact the Health Foundation via info@health.org.uk

DigitalHealth.London is a government-funded project delivered by the Health Innovation Network (HIN) South London with the support of global and national partners. It offers a variety of programmes for digital health innovators, such as

• the 12-months DigitalHealth.London Accelerator for technologies that have been piloted in the NHS and are ready for deployment at scale,
• the 10-week Accelerating FemTech programme for technologies addressing women’s health,
• the 12-months Digital Pioneer fellowship for NHS, Local Authority, and Voluntary sector staff to design and deliver digital transformation projects within their organisation,
• the 12-week Evidence Generator Bootcamp for digital health companies that have or are aiming to launch in the NHS,
• the 11-week Launchpad programme to refine and launch new digital health products and services with high potential to meet current NHS and social care challenges,
• the new Leap programme dedicated to inclusivity and tailored support for global majorities, females, neurodiverse and disabled individuals,
• the new Social Enterprises Initiative which provides advice on legal aspects of registering an entity, developing a business strategy, as well as marketing and communication plans as Social Enterprise.
• Contact Digitalhealth.London via info@digitalhealth.london

MedCity London fosters international collaborations between bio-, medtech, and pharma companies and London’s life sciences sector to facilitate innovation, investment, and skill-development across the UK. MedCity provides a variety of programmes, events, and resources for academia, industry, and non-profit organisations, which include:

• the Collaborate to Innovate programme, which matches Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) with innovation or applied research needs to complimentary academic research groups,
• an Investment Hub that connects SMEs with angel investors and venture capitalists investing specifically in innovative health care and life science businesses,
• MedCity co-delivers the 12-months DigitalHealth.London Accelerator for technologies that have been piloted in the NHS and are ready for deployment at scale,
• a Diagnostics Growth Hub, a ‘one-stop shop’ for diagnostics companies to access all the support they need.
• the Boosting Life Science Social Economy Programme, which is designed to tackle health and wealth inequities in seven London communities.

Contact MedCity London via medcitycomms@londonandpartners.com

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has invested just under £42 million into 14 new NIHR HealthTech Research Centres (HRCs) to support the development of medical devices, diagnostics, and digital technologies for specific focus areas in collaboration with businesses.

The Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC), a unique partnership between patient groups, government bodies, industry and NHS bodies. NHS AAC provides very wide-ranging support for health innovations (medicines, diagnostics, devices, digital products, pathway changes and new workforce models) from early to late development stages. Health innovations should focus on one or more of the five clinical priority areas (maternity, mental health, respiratory health, cancer diagnosis and cardiovascular disease) linked to the Core20PLUS5 (adults) approach for the reduction of health inequalities at national and system level. Support includes:

• the NHS Innovation Service which provides practical support from development to adoption for all types of healthcare innovators (start-up to established enterprise level).
• the NHS clinical entrepreneur Programme, a free entrepreneurial work force development programme aimed at NHS staff and healthcare professionals,
• the Patient Entrepreneur Programme, a pilot entrepreneurial development programme aimed at people with experience of an illness or condition who have developed novel or new innovation to improve patient care,
• the NHS InSites Programme, which supports the testing and implementation of innovations in real-world settings, which has expanded to a system capacity building pilot.
• the Clinical Entrepreneur Programme Preparation (CEP Prep) webinar series for NHS staff, healthcare professionals, and people with experience of an illness or condition. The CPEP Prep webinar series aims to encourage health innovation entrepreneurship.
• the Dementia Innovators Programme, a pilot aimed at health and social care within and outside the NHS (e.g. allied health professionals, social care professionals, admiral nurses, care home staff, hospice staff, dieticians, opticians, podiatrists, etc.) with an idea that could help improve the lives of people affected by dementia.
• the Small Business Research Initiative for Healthcare (SBRI) programme, which runs competitions for innovations addressing an unmet NHS and wider health and social care system need.
• the Early Access to Medicines Scheme (EAMS), which provides people with life-threatening or seriously debilitating conditions early access to new medicines that do not yet have marketing authorisation but clearly address an unmet clinical need. Inclusion in this scheme requires a successful application for a Promising Innovative Medicine (PIM) designation from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
• the NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA), which is an annually run, competitive programme for 3-year 1-to-1 tailored support for innovators to accelerate the uptake at scale of high-impact innovations for patient, population, and NHS staff benefit.
• the 15 Health Innovation Networks across England, which bring together NHS, industry, academic, third sector, and local organisations to accelerate health and care innovation and generate economic growth in regionally distinct ways. HINs provide research support and innovator support in terms of advice, funding, evidence generation, and health and care system navigation and can be contacted via the applicable regional health innovation network.
• Academic Health Science Centres (AHSCs), which are regional partnerships between universities and NHS organisations with local partners including local authorities and industry for the translation of early scientific research and discoveries into benefits for individual patients and local and national populations.
• Horizon scanning and demand signalling, which involves research priority setting for the NHS.

Contact the AAC via aac.innovation@nhs.net

The NHS England Transformation Directorate (subsuming NHSX) provides key tools and information for the digitalisation, connection, and transformation of health and social care services in England. The NHS England Transformation Directorate runs

• The NHS Artificial Intelligence (AI) Lab, which accelerates the safe adoption of AI in health and social care with a variety of programmes:
  • The AI Lab Ethics Initiative, which aims to ensure safe, ethical and effective adoption of AI into health and care,ToDo
  • AI in Imaging, which supports the development of imaging technology from collection to validation and sharing,
  • The AI regulation ecosystem to enable ethically robust regulatory ecosystems for the development and deployment of Ai technologies
  • The Artificial Intelligence in health and Care Award (ended 2024), which provided £113 million over a 4-year period to accelerate AI technologies. An overview of the 86 awards is provided on their webpage.

Contact the NHS England Transformation Directorate via their social media.

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funds 15 NIHR Applied Research Collaborations (ARCs) which focus on the implementation of health and care evidence into day-to-day practice that responds to the needs of local populations and local health and care systems. Each NIHR ARC offers a variety of support for health innovations, for example:

• NIHR ARC Northwest London offers an annual, competitive 12 months Improvement Leader Fellowship that is open to open to NHS partner organisation staff, academics, people with a role in health and healthcare, patients, carers or members of the public who are passionate about changing health and social care.