Emda invests £280,000 in health software system
A new web-based software system that could help health professionals manage treatment of prostate cancer has been developed in the East Midlands. Derby City Primary Care Trust received a technology demonstration grant of £280,000 from the East Midlands Development Agency (Emda).
The Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) has successfully been piloted in Derby and Nottingham and has been commissioned by Derby City Primary Care Trust. The software helps healthcare professionals decide whether patients can continue to be safely treated in the community and when they need to see a hospital consultant.
NHS Innovation East Midlands helped form the partnership, which then developed and tested CDSS once a Technology Demonstration grant of £280,000 from Emda had been secured, as part of the Regional Technology Framework.
This grant was matched by Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Additional support around regulatory affairs was provided by the Healthcare and Bioscience innovation Network (iNet), which is funded by the European Regional Development Fund and Emda.
Mike Carr, Emda’s executive director of business services, said: “The successful outcome and benefits of this project to healthcare patients, professionals and the region’s economy demonstrate the value of Emda’s demonstration grant scheme. It’s designed to capitalise on great ideas, from the straightforward to the highly sophisticated, in technology areas of key importance the East Midlands.”
Following successful trialling of the software in Derby and Nottingham, CDSS is due to be rolled out across 250,000 patients this summer. The online software has also been approved for use as a medical device across the European Union and it will be used in the management of other long-term care diseases.
