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Health Innovation Hub Ireland Becomes First EIT Health Bridgehead Catalyser in Ireland

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Ireland-UK, EIT Health Ireland-UK

Health Innovation Hub Ireland Becomes First EIT Health Bridgehead Catalyser in Ireland

21st June 2023

Health Innovation Hub Ireland (HIHI) has become Ireland’s first EIT Health Bridgehead Catalyser, aiming to facilitate the introduction of ground-breaking healthcare innovations from companies across Europe into the Irish healthcare system. By joining the EIT Health network as a catalyser, European health tech start-ups will have the opportunity to test and validate their solutions across HIHI’s hospital network in Ireland. HIHI as a Bridgehead Catalyser will help foster impactful advancements in the field of healthcare.

The EIT Health Bridgehead accelerator programme is designed to bridge the gap between promising healthcare innovations and their implementation in real-world settings by connecting companies with key stakeholders in target countries.

Through the Bridgehead programme, early-stage companies developing health tech solutions gain access to a network of Bridgehead partners, which include leading healthcare organisations, academic institutions, and innovation hubs across Europe. These partners possess extensive knowledge and expertise in their respective local healthcare systems, regulatory frameworks, and market dynamics.

“Being the first Irish catalyser in the EIT Health Bridgehead Programme, HIHI has an opportunity to bring new European ideas to the Irish marketplace to improve service delivery. At the same time, it allows them to gain access and exposure to participate as peers in a wider European innovation ecosystem,” said Marc Butterly, Business Creation Lead, at EIT Health Ireland-UK.

Established by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation and the Department of Health, supported by Enterprise Ireland (EI) and the Health Service Executive (HSE), HIHI works to drive collaboration between the health service and enterprise. Dr. Tanya Mulcahy, Director of Health Innovation Hub Ireland, (pictured above) said, “We are delighted to be Ireland’s first EIT Bridgehead Catalyser. Through this EIT Health programme, we will support companies from across Europe to access the Irish healthcare system, introducing new innovations and supporting better healthcare for all. We are looking forward to seeing some impactful innovations coming through the programme.”

With its deep understanding of Ireland’s healthcare landscape, HIHI is well-positioned to identify and support the adoption of transformative technologies, products, and services.

The EIT Health Bridgehead Programme offers an opportunity for HIHI to collaborate with European innovators and healthcare organizations, fostering knowledge exchange and driving collective progress.

WE ARE HIRING – Innovation Specialist HIHI Dublin (.8 FTE)

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The Purpose of the Role

HIHI wishes to recruit an Innovation Specialist to manage a portfolio of up to 20 health technology clients to lead the management and governance of pilot, validation and user assessment studies in Irish clinical settings. Central to the role, is working directly with Irish start-ups and SMEs to develop health technology products through testing and development projects. The Innovation Specialist will ensure the successful delivery of multiple, concurrent activities within their client portfolio, monitoring and tracking schedule, cost, quality and outcomes. This is an exceptional opportunity to be part of a leading national health innovation program. You will manage multi-disciplinary project teams of experienced clinical, commercialisation, academic and technical professionals dedicated to developing, scaling and growing Irish healthcare companies while improving the health system by meeting global and national healthcare needs.

The candidate will deliver a diverse range of innovative health tech projects for their clients – both industry and clinical teams and should be experienced in driving project plans forward, managing tight deadlines and remote teams for appositive result. The program requires the post holder to be a  strong communicator and independent worker with a clear focus on healthcare innovation and developments in health technology.

The HIHI Innovation Specialist will be based in the HIHI TCD hub in St James’s Hospital and will lead several projects across multiple site locations. The post holder will report to HIHI TCD Manager. The successful candidate will be an active member of the National HIHI Operations Team led by principal HIHI academic partner UCC. Informal enquiries about this post – HIHI Manager TCD, Eimear Galvin, galvinei@tcd.ie.

Context

The ambition in the 2013 ‘Action Plan for Jobs’ was to establish a world renowned Health Innovation Hub and in doing so Ireland as a leading location for start-ups and growing medtech and healthcare companies. A Cork demonstrator hub provided a scalable and clinically credible environment in which to launch Health Innovation Hub Ireland (HIHI) in 2016. A joint government initiative of the Department of Health and the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment, Health Innovation Hub Ireland (HIHI) is an Enterprise Ireland and HSE partnership. Providing a vital bridge between the health service and Irish innovators – understanding the evolving needs of the health system and the journey to market for enterprise. HIHI entered its second phase of five year funding from Enterprise Ireland in July 2021.

HIHI drives collaboration between the health service and enterprise, leading to the development of new healthcare technologies, products, and services. HIHI enables frontline piloting and testing, resulting in improved design or the validation to take a product to the next stage of development and commercialisation. HIHI also supports the building of an innovation culture within the health service through a suite of knowledge building resources and guidance for healthcare professionals and innovators on the key steps from ideation to adoption.

Operationally, a consortium of four academic institution (led by UCC with partners TCD, NUIG and MTU) runs Health Innovation Hub Ireland. Each PI is the official budget holder. The HIHI Managers report directly to the relevant PI and the local team (a mix of EI funded posts and HSE seconded posts) report to the HIHI manager. The HIHI Manager also reports into the HIHI National Director who leads the national team. The HIHI Innovation Specialists will work closely with HIHI TCD Manager and HSE/HIHI Clinical Liaisons, HIHI Galway, HIHI Cork, individual site clinical teams, Enterprise Ireland Development Advisors, industry partners and start-ups.

Main responsibilities

  • Manages own portfolio of HIHI health technology client companies (up to 20), liaising with Enterprise Ireland HPSU and Development Advisors to ensure commercial value to clients through pilot and validation studies.
  • Act as the lead broker between your companies and the health service (acute, community, primary care and individual clinical leads/teams) to identify appropriate study sites, leading engagement with the clinical teams, assessing feasibility of studies, drafting and securing formal project plans and agreements.
  • Define and implement each individual project plan per client – this includes but is not limited to project scope definition, work break-down, resource planning, schedule development, budgeting and reporting requirements.
  • Responsible for identifying and delivering bespoke study KPIs – outcomes delivered for clinical and company partners – e.g key success indicators: improved patient care and access, savings, site efficiencies.
  • Liaise directly with ethics committees as necessary per client – preparation and submission of applications, study protocol and Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) compliance.
  • Ensure intellectual property assets are managed appropriately – ensuring industry partner confidentiality as needed.
  • Manage project risk and change, and ensure project outcomes are delivered in accordance with the project plan and in line with the overall project objectives
  • Deliver strong and detailed reports on the progress of each project and the key performance indicators and deliverables to be achieved .
  • Manage and prepare HIHI study data (from your client portfolio) for publication.
  • Build and manage key relationships across Irish acute sites with a particular focus on creating a network of contacts in the Dublin area to raise the profile of HIHI.
  • Collaborate with local and national industry groups and representative bodies – Enterprise Ireland, IDA, Knowledge Transfer Ireland, Health Tech Ireland, IPPOSI, Digital Hub, GEC, etc, to support client work on development, funding options, commercialisation and market entry.
  • Build and manage close relationships with TCD Tech Transfer Office and across TCD Research and Innovation to support and advise client portfolio on issues relating to IP, spin out, product development and commercial pathways.
  • Liaise with HIHI colleagues in Cork and Galway and, where appropriate, manage HIHI projects in other HIHI locations.
  • Pro-active content creation, input and management of HIHI Knowledge Network (online toolkit for Irish health innovators).
  • Intelligence gathering and dissemination of trends and opportunities for EU funding.
  • Provides expert guidance on EU proposal development, eligibility and compliance.
  • Leads on writing high quality EU proposals for strategic, high value opportunities
  • Maintenance and regular monitoring of HIHI project notes and reports on internal HIHI Smartsheets and SharePoint systems (full training provided).
  • Represent HIHI at events, conferences and symposia.
  • Carry out other duties as appropriate to the post as may be assigned from time to time by the HIHI TCD Manager.

*The above role profile is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all duties involved and consequently the post holder may be required to perform other duties as appropriate to the post.

Person Requirements

The role-holder will require the following knowledge, skills and attributes for successful performance in the role.

Qualifications

  • The candidate appointed to this post should have a degree in science, technology, engineering, medtech, health or business.
  • The successful candidate must have a minimum of three years’ project management experience in the health sector, or with industry- focused health technology projects.
  • Professional accreditation(s) in project management methodologies is an advantage.

Knowledge

  • Applicants must have significant (min three years) experience in an area of healthcare – within industry: pharma, med tech, med device, digital health start-ups, or clinical experience (no preferred discipline) in an acute site.
  • Demonstrable knowledge of the digital healthcare system, clinical and health technology landscape in Ireland.
  • Expertise in global research development and innovation technology trends, opportunities and challenges as they affect healthcare businesses.
  • A keen interest, understanding and insight into health technology, medical devices and good clinical practice to deliver effective clinical studies.
  • Clinical research knowledge /interest in clinical research.
  • Comprehensive understanding and knowledge of EU Funding trends and opportunities and EU proposal requirements, standards and criteria.

Experience

  • A record of achieving results independently in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment.
  • Experience with designing and mobilising the project management process and implementing the entire project lifecycle to meet challenging deadlines.
  • Demonstrable experience of achievements in building networks, stakeholder engagement and relationships across sectors.
  • Demonstrable experience and evidence of client services roles with accountability responsibilities.
  • Extensive experience of portfolio management and ownership – managing multiple projects with competing demands.
  • Experience in managing multi-disciplinary project teams.
  • Experience of grant writing and supporting grant applications – up to date on EU funding trends, priorities and modalities as well as funding eligibility criteria and guidelines.
  • Experience in technology commercialisation, design, testing product development, IP, work with TTO
  • Experience and expertise in social media and digital content creation a bonus.

Skills

  • Ability to communicate, engage and convince at senior level with thought leaders across health and technology sectors.
  • Creative, patient, adaptable, and flexible with a knack for understanding client needs and developing innovative solutions.
  • Excellent written and oral proficiency in English (essential), excellent communication and interpersonal skills both written and verbal.
  • Ability to problem solve, to brainstorm and to generate innovative ideas and solutions.
  • Proven ability to prioritise workload and work to exacting deadlines.
  • Ability to negotiate access to resources in a matrix-type organisation.
  • Should possess excellent computer skills with experience of project management and collaboration tools.
  • Self-motivated, showing strong initiative and accountability for own portfolio of clients.

Personal attributes

  • Strong communicator
  • A leader who pays close attention to project requirements and proactively delivers.
  • Ability to learn quickly and adapt to changing requirements.
  • Client focus – the ability to provide an excellent client service focusing on client needs across project and commercialisation strategies.

Apply through: https://my.corehr.com/pls/trrecruit/erq_search_package.search_form?p_company=1&p_internal_external=E

 

Cork cousins develop compostable PPE apron to reduce plastic usage in Irish healthcare

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Cork cousins develop compostable PPE apron to reduce plastic usage in Irish healthcare

Updated / Saturday, 17 Jun 2023 07:13
By Eleanor Mannion
Two Cork cousins have developed a compostable PPE apron to reduce plastic usage in the healthcare industry.

Dr Mary O’Riordan and Lisa O’Riordan developed their ‘guilt-free’ HaPPE Earth apron in response to an increase in plastic pollution during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We had all become aware of the crisis around plastics production and pollution. A truckload of plastic goes into the sea every minute of every day. So it’s a major problem and we feel all sectors need to come together to solve it,” Ms O’Riordan explained.

Billions of single-use plastic PPE aprons are used globally each year.

Made from low-density polyethylene (LDPE), they can take up to 50 years to disintegrate.

The new compostable apron is made from proprietary resin and disintegrates in just five weeks.

An LDPE apron beside the compostable HaPPE apron

“The single-use plastic apron is something that’s used all the time and thrown away,” explained Dr O’Riordan. “We were speaking to one surgeon who went through 27 in one session.

“If every one of those is ten grams and each of those, if you count them up – in Ireland, there’s 50 million of them used every year then that’s 500 tonnes of waste in Ireland per year alone.

“So then, you extrapolate that out globally and you’re talking about hundreds of thousands of tonnes year-on-year of single-use plastic apron. And we thought, ‘Look, this has to stop’.”

The HaPPE Earth apron is CE approved for use in healthcare.

The apron was one of 11 winners of the Health Innovation Hub Ireland (HIHI) Open Call 2022.

HIHI conducted pilots in hospitals and nursing home setting to assess the usability, durability and acceptability of the HaPPE apron within healthcare settings.

Dr Ruth Lernihan, Chief Executive Helen Donovan, and Niamh Allen of SIVUH

Healthcare workers and catering staff at South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital (SIVUH) in Cork were involve in the pilot scheme.

“In 2022, we used 700,000 aprons,” Dr Ruth Lernihan, Director of Nursing at the hospital said. “If you just think of that and the waste stream from non-clinical waste and the environmental impact of that and where that all ends up so we were delighted to get this opportunity.”

Becoming more sustainable is a priority for the hospital.

“Certainly, when you look at PPE, there is a lot of waste,” Helen Donovan, Chief Executive of SIVUH said. “As an elective hospital, we are in an unique position to look at our processes and how we do things.

“The multi-disciplinary team here who were involved in the trial, nurses, catering staff, cleaning staff, each one of those individuals has an unique perspective and contributed to patient care.”

During the pilot staff were asked to provide feedback on the compostable aprons.

“When staff were using them in the pilot, there was fierce results,” Niamh Allen, a Clinical Nurse Manager said. “They found them comfortable, less heavy, less static, more breathable which allowed them to feel more flexible in their daily order of work.”

With positive feedback from healthcare workers in the pilot schemes, Mary and Lisa O’Riordan now hope their compostable PPE apron will ultimately replace the 50 million singe-use plastic aprons used every year in Irish healthcare.

“Every time we see another one of our HaPPE aprons on someone in a healthcare setting, we know that we’ve reduced the use of another plastic one,” Dr O’Riordan said. “For us, that’s less 50 years in landfill.”

“It would be amazing to think that Ireland will be on of the first to pioneer bringing compostable consumables into healthcare,” Lisa O’Riordan said.

Watch the RTE video here

https://www.rte.ie/video/id/6574/

HIHI’s completes a climate smart healthcare case study with Irish company HaPPE Earth on the HaPPE apron a fully compostable PPE solution

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COVID-19 is still dominant across the world and climate change is to the forefront of the global conversation. Climate smart healthcare solutions are necessary to meet the problem of increased waste. According to WHO, during the COVID-19 pandemic, plastic production more than doubled, raising concerns about both the short-term impacts on fresh water, oceans and air quality, and the longer-term impacts of persistent nano-plastic particles.

The WHO Global analysis of health care waste in the context of COVID-19 report (Feb 2022) outlined the problems we face globally and what recommendations are necessary to combat them. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240039612

There is increasing global pressure at an economic, environmental and regulatory level to reduce single use plastics. At present, only 10% of healthcare plastic is recycled. During 2020, Ireland used 70 million and England 900 million PPE aprons.

Billions of PPE aprons are used globally each year. The global market is still 98% Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) usage with very little in the way of credible alternatives. This usage is set to continue year on year causing significant environmental and long term health harms.

As this dialogue continues internationally, 2 Irish female entrepreneurs Dr Mary O’ Riordan and Lisa O’Riordan have developed a novel innovative PPE product, the HaPPE Apron. This compostable PPE apron is suitable for use in healthcare and is CE approved and most importantly, in a world where the effects of climate change are growing, it’s environmentally friendly.

HaPPE Earth came up with a healthcare solution. The HaPPE Apron protects healthcare staff and adheres to water repellence, density and tensile strength of current LDPE single use apron. However, in contrast to the LDPE apron currently being used in healthcare, the HaPPE Apron is entirely compostable. The standard LDPE apron, used across healthcare takes about 50 years to degrade whereas the HaPPE apron composts in just 5 weeks with zero toxic residue. It is made from HaPPE Proprietary Resin composed of an innovative family of compostable materials. Initial calculations on the compostable HaPPE apron sees a reduction of 75% in CO2e (CO2  emissions) when compared to the standard LDPE single use apron.

HIHI conducted pilots in hospitals and nursing home settings in the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital (SIVUH) in Cork and Tallaght University Hospital (TUH) in Dublin and Brindley Manor Nursing Home in Donegal, part of the Orpea group. HIHI supported this project by assisting the project team to engage
with stakeholders, collecting and analysing feedback and usage data and providing project management expertise during the project.

Dr Mary O’Riordan, Co-founder, HaPPE  explained the value of the HIHI pilots. “It was such a fantastic experience for HaPPE Earth to be part of the Health Innovation Hub Ireland (HIHI). To see our compostable apron being used by frontline staff in the Irish Health Service and to get such support from the HIHI team was invaluable to us. It is through collaboration like this that we bring practical solutions to our health system. The HIHI programme is extremely well organized and supportive. We were delighted to be part of it and would encourage other innovative companies to participate. We give it a big HaPPE highly recommended.”

 Dr Tanya Mulcahy, Director, Health Innovation Hub Ireland applauded this green solution : “Worldwide, the healthcare sector is responsible for as much as 4.6 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions. If Ireland is to make an impact, we need to look at innovative products that reduce carbon emissions while maintaining safety. The HaPPE apron is safe, equivalent to current PPE and is addressing sustainability- it’s also Irish! I am delighted that HIHI and SIVUH have demonstrated that this is a viable option for Irish and global healthcare, we are working on a second pilot in Tallaght University Hospital-wouldn’t it be great to see this product in use across our entire healthcare system”

Image Left to right pictured at SIVUH (Lisa O’Riordan, Co-founder HaPPE Earth, Johnny Brackett HCA, Niamh Allen, HIHI Clinical Liaison and HSE Clinical Nurse Manager, Dr Mary O’Riordan, Co-founder HaPPE Earth, Lily Matthews, Clinical Nurse Manager 1)

Read the full case study here https://hih.ie/downloads/case-studies/HIHI-case-study_HaPPE.pdf

 

HIHI has completed another product pilot case study the HospitalBuddy app, now used in 11 Irish hospitals by 2,000 doctors

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HIHI has completed another successful case study to add to the widening portfolio of work. Dr. Tanya Mulcahy, Director of Health Innovation Hub Ireland welcomed it’s completion. “HIHI were delighted to work on another product pilot case study, the HospitalBuddy app. Our Doctors and healthcare teams are always busy.  Hospital Buddy was created by doctors for doctors, providing them with reference tools, clinical guides, meeting and CPD tracking with new functionality being developed continuously. This free tool is helping clinicians to work more efficiently allowing them to focus on patients. With over 2,000 doctors already using the tool,  it is already having a major impact across the workforce”.

There are a number of challenges facing Hospital doctors and administrators in Ireland.  Hospital administrators need to track doctors’ attendances at meetings and seminars as part of doctors’ training, continuous professional development and registration requirements. Doctors often need to consult reliable information and calculate specific health metrics to assist them in the treatment of their patients. Additionally, some doctors move from hospital to hospital on a regular basis  as part of their training. They need to find out specific information related to their new hospital such as; new tax numbers, contact details and induction information. These challenges can be frustrating and time consuming for both administrators and doctors.

The solution to these challenges is HospitalBuddy. It is provided free of charge to healthcare professionals, hospital administrators and their staff. The HospitalBuddy app provides hospital administrators and healthcare professionals with administrative support and education resources. It supports meeting tracking, clinical and non-clinical resources, information sharing and staff communication. Hospital administrators can choose which of the features they wish to use in their particular hospital.

There is also huge value to the doctor. The HospitalBuddy app gives doctors valuable information and resources, both clinical and non-clinical all in one place. By the end of the HIHI pilots, over 2,000 doctors and 11 hospitals were using HospitalBuddy. The adoption of the app by doctors continues to grow steadily and has become particularly important at the time of the rotation of NCHDs. Doctors have reported using the app for finding accommodation, registering attendance meeting needed for their CPD points, as well as, finding and sharing clinical information with colleagues and students. One such hospital doctor, Dr Patrick O’Connor, Registrar in Cardiology, Limerick University Hospital outlined the benefits of the app. “HospitalBuddy is an all round doctor app. One minute I’ll be using the app to find accommodation, the next minute I’m calculating a score, and then I’ll be opening it up to show a SHO a diagram on how to manage (Afib) atrial fibrillation. It saves so much time. It is hard to know how when managed without it.” 

The benefits can be seen across the hospitals. Hospital administrators and medical manpower managers have enjoyed the benefits of the meeting tracker and information sharing features and have suggested additional functionality which the company has already implemented.  Niamh Allen, CNM II, SIVUH and HIHI team member praised the benefits of the app. “The South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital Cork was delighted to pilot ‘Hospital Buddy’. The pilot enabled hospital doctors to attend tutorials by logging into a device outside of the tutorial time which allowed for less disruption in patient care. Hospital buddy also made collating attendees more efficient. Policies and changes to practice were also uploaded to the system storing all the information in the one place improved efficiency and allowed more time for direct patient care”, 

From the company’s perspective the pilot was invaluable as it received valuable feedback and suggestions from both hospital doctors and administrators, which has assisted them in the design and development of the app. The feedback also highlighted other use cases for this technology, which the company is currently developing.

Joe Newell, CEO HospitalBuddy highlighted HIHI’s role in the product pilot. “When we launched HospitalBuddy, we knew we had built features that would be of great benefit to both hospitals and healthcare professionals nationwide. However, we needed help to get HospitalBuddy in front of key stakeholders in hospitals. HIHI was instrumental in this process and also helped us to roll out pilots in a number of hospitals. HIHI has also been a great sounding board when it comes to new initiatives that we have considered. Our first year has exceeded all our expectations, with over 2,000 healthcare professionals downloading the app, and we are very thankful to Jane O’ Flynn and her colleagues for their help and support to date.”

HIHI announces another new team member, Dr. Michael Twomey PhD

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Health Innovation Hub Ireland is delighted to announce that Dr Michael Twomey PhD has joined HIHI as a Senior Clinical Research Manager. He will be based at HIHI’s HQ at UCC’s Western Gateway Building. Michael is also a  founder of I Know me ltd., – a digital health company, adjunct lecturer in Business Information Systems in UCC and in the HSE MSc Digital Health Transformation in UL.

His research interests include health innovation, design, design thinking, and empowerment of stakeholders through information.

Graduating with a BSc (Hons) from UCC, Michael began his career as a biochemist, later qualifying in Computer Science (Hons) in UCC and working as a senior IT consultant with a multinational IT consultancy company. Following on from this, Michael founded an IT company in 2003, which provided professional IT services to several domestic and international companies. During his time as CEO, Michael graduated in Cloud Strategy and Innovation (Hons) and was subsequently awarded a master’s in data business (Hons) with the Irish Management Institute.

In 2017, Michael departed from the firm to engage in fulltime research, an Irish Research Council awardee, he completed his PhD in 2020. He is also an associate of the Irish Management Institute, with over twenty years of experience working on innovation and IT projects in a range of industries, including healthcare. To date his research has been published in leading academic outlets and has received several awards.

 

 

 

Smart D8 is extending the call for pilots to Friday 05th May 2023 at 23:00

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Following two years of success in engaging Enterprise, Academia and a range of relevant stakeholders, the Smart D8 initiative has delivered 8 impactful and scalable pilots. In 2023 this engagement will continue with a third open call for pilots – deadline now extended to May 5.

Apply here

Continuing to focus on the measured health and wellbeing needs of the 25,000 strong diverse Dublin 8 population, this call will focus on three themes namely:

  • Positive and Healthy Ageing,
  • Connected Patient in the Community, and
  • Population Health.

Smart D8 seek to support the development of impactful, scalable and sustainable pilots involving enterprise, academic and other relevant public and private stakeholders. The pilot proposals should be ready to deploy with end users and should be in a position to measure impacts within a six-month timeframe.

To apply, please submit your proposal here: https://smartdublin.ie/smart-districts/smart-d8/ by Friday, 05th May 2023 at 23:00

Smart D8 Pilot Call Themes

Some examples of the types of pilots which would be relevant to the Dublin 8 population are given here for illustrative purposes. Smart D8 takes a very broad perspective on population health and wellbeing. Balancing preventative approaches with the support for patients in the community and in innovation in the delivery of healthcare, the pilot call is broad in the application areas.

Positive and Healthy Ageing

  • General Preventative Health solutions that can be implemented in a community setting to maintain good health and wellbeing.
  • Support for patients living in the community.
  • Ways to better integrate the ageing population into communities.
  • Providing support for the ageing population making a valuable contribution to communities.
  • Health and wellbeing services focused on an ageing population.

Connected Patient in the Community

  • Connected Patient in the Community
  • Support for patients living in the community.
  • Health and wellbeing services focused on patients living in a community.
  • Chronic Disease Management which will allow people to manage chronic health conditions in the community.
  • Social prescribing and related services.
  • Support for community-based services.
  • Approaches to Health and wellbeing education and learning.

Population Health

  • Chronic Disease Management which will allow people to manage chronic health conditions in the community.
  • General Preventative Health solutions that can be implemented in a community setting to maintain good health and wellbeing.
  • Ways to encourage better exercise and nutrition.
  • Ways to reduce stress in the general population.
  • Approaches to Health and wellbeing education and learning.
  • Health and wellbeing services focused on a general population.

Who Should Apply?

The pilot call is open to all Enterprise, Academy, Public and Private sector organisations, who:

  • Offer innovative and scalable solutions (products, services or devices).
  • Provides new practices/solutions/perspectives that address an unmet need in the community.
  • Have a solution that is ready for end user deployment within six months.
  • Can be enabled by a co creation and collaboration with the Smart D8 partners and beyond.

Why Apply?

  • Opportunity to pilot and demonstrate the impact and scalability of your offering in a real-world community setting.
  • Access to a unique collaborative ecosystem with established clinical, academic, public and private sector engagement
  • Funding support available for selected pilots.
  • Project management support
  • Marketing and promotion support
  • Access to free workspace in Dublin 8 during the pilot period.

Application Process and Timelines

  • Process : Applicants must submit a completed application form through the Smart D8 website. Applicants can apply for more than one call.
  • Call opens : Monday, 27th March 2023
  • Call closes : on Friday, 05th May 2023 at 23:00
  • Evaluation of proposals :
    Your submission will be reviewed by expert panel drawn from the Smart D8 partners.  A shortlist of applicants will be selected and will be asked to make a presentation to the evaluation panel. An update on the call outcome will be provided to all applicants on Monday 22nd May 2023.   
  • Projects start : June 2023
  • Projects present results/interim results : December 2023

Spotlighting a HIHI pilot with My OT & Me with the potential to reduce paediatric OT waiting lists

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Health Innovation Hub Ireland were delighted to work with My OT & Me an Irish start-up founded by Jessica Kennedy, Senior Paediatric Occupational Therapist and Seán Ó Tuama. My OT & Me is an online paediatric occupational therapy (OT) resource to support children and families who are in need of OT support. It aims
to support and empower as many families as possible in an innovative, accessible and interactive way. The focus is on positive child development, encouraging independence and creating confident children. Paediatric Occupational Therapy helps children and young people with different needs and abilities to become as independent as possible by developing the skills they need to perform the purposeful activities that make up everyday life.

HSE Primary Care Occupational Therapy Services are experiencing increased numbers of referrals. This can be challenging particularly in times of limited resources, long waiting lists and redeployment of existing staff to COVID-19 testing duties. There is also a significant demand for private paediatric OT services in Ireland amongst parents, caregivers, educators, professionals and students.

Jane O’ Flynn acting Operations Manager HIHI welcomed the pilot “It is really important that children receive early intervention for their occupational therapy needs. The HIHI pilot of the My OT & Me programme with HSE community paediatric OTs in Cork and their clients demonstrated how children and their families benefited from completing this combined eHealth and activity programme at home. There is great potential for this innovative programme to help over 18,000 children waiting from HSE paediatric OT assessments in Ireland.”

My OT & Me’s platform is a unique telehealth-based product providing online paediatric occupational therapy resources to support children and families who are in need of OT support. It provides information through structured high quality educational videos for parents covering a range of OT topics. Children are provided with My OT & Me’s product, Octobox to support them with skill acquisition in a fun and interactive way.

Health Innovation Hub Ireland supported the My OT & Me Innovation Journey via a pilot with North Lee Primary Care Occupational Therapy Department, HSE with twenty-six children and their families in Cork who were awaiting intervention services. The children and their parents or guardians undertook a dedicated 12 week My OT & Me programme which concluded in February 2022.

A significant outcome of the pilot was that

  • half of all children did not need further HSE OT support at the end of the programme. As this programme is carried out by parents and children at home.
  • it can free up OTs to see other children and thus help reduce waiting times.
  • The families who piloted the My OT & Me programme at home responded positively. The programme gave 100% of families more confidence and provided them with practical strategies to support their child and they found the format of the programme manageable.
  • 85% reported that the programme gave them additional knowledge and understanding.
  • 71% said their child enjoyed the programme, they saw an improvement in their child’s skills and the programme helped the child meet the goals set for them.

The feedback from the OTs was also positive. 100% of OTs would recommend it to other Paediatric OTs, 80% would like to continue to have access to the programme for their clients and 60% considered that the piloted programme would help reduce waiting times.

Speaking on conclusion of the successful HIHI pilot Jess Kennedy Co-founder, My OT & Me said “ Having access to clinical teams through a dedicated programme like this has fast-tracked our commercial implementation.”

Read the case study and a selection of our other work here Case Studies – Health Innovation Hub Ireland (hih.ie)

HIHI announces the appointment of new team member Dr. Jonathan Moran

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Health Innovation Hub Ireland are delighted to announce that Dr. Jonathan Moran PhD, BSc, PGDip Primary Care (Orthopaedics and Musculoskeletal), PG Cert Statistics joins us as a HSE Clinical Liaison, with the Dublin team at our office based at St. James’s Hospital Dublin. Dr. Moran has spent the last number of years working at the hospital’s physiotherapy department and he brings a wealth of experience and a broad network to the HIHI national team.

Jonathan completed a BSc. in Physiotherapy and graduated from Trinity College Dublin in June 2013. While, undertaking his undergraduate degree, Jonathan developed a keen interest in cancer and exercise, particularly its role in the preoperative setting.

Immediately post his undergraduate degree, Jonathan began a PhD in Physiotherapy entitled ‘Evaluating and optimising preoperative physical fitness to enhance postoperative recovery in major surgery’. Jonathan examined the role of preoperative physical fitness in improving postoperative morbidity and mortality rates. In addition, Jonathan investigated interventions to enhance preoperative physical fitness and examined if this translated to an improvement in postoperative outcome. Jonathan completed his PhD in August 2017.

Following the completion of his PhD, Jonathan began working as a postdoctoral researcher with Dr. Julie Broderick. During this position, Jonathan helped develop physical activity guidelines to support mental health service users published by the Health Service Executive https://www.hse.ie/eng/about/who/healthwellbeing/our-priority-programmes/heal/heal-docs/lets-get-active-guidelines.pdf).

For his research Jonathan has obtained over €30,000 in funding from the Royal City of Dublin Hospital Trust and €2,500 from the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists for The PHIIT Trial (Clinictrials.gov: NCT02674815). In addition, Jonathan has a number of peer-reviewed publications in high-ranking publications such as the British Journal of Anaesthesia and Surgery.

In 2018, Jonathan began working as a Physiotherapist in St. James’s Hospital, Ireland’s largest hospital, quickly becoming a senior in inpatient orthopaedics. While in this role Jonathan also served as the Co-Editor in Chief of the peer-reviewed journal, Physiotherapy Practice & Research, and also serves on the Tallaght/St. James’s Research Ethics Committee.

Health Innovation Hub Ireland, headquartered in UCC, is supporting local companies to develop their HealthTech products.

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Health Innovation Hub Ireland, a national initiative supported by the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment, the Department of Health, Enterprise Ireland and the HSE is led-by and headquartered in UCC with a partner hub in MTU . The goal of HIHI is to support Ireland’s health technology industry by connecting innovators with healthcare and driving the development of products through HIHI’s unique innovation pathway. HIHI supports innovations at idea stage, pre-commercial prototype stage and market ready products. HIHI supports companies based anywhere in Ireland but we are particularly proud of the work we’ve done to support local Cork-based industry. Here is snapshot of some recent successes:

 

Health Innovation Hub Ireland supports Cork-based Gasgon Medical with clinical feedback of AirVault – a novel device to limit the impact of air bubbles in infusion therapy lines.

Cork- based Gasgon Medical has developed a novel closed-system air trap, the AirVault. As a single-use device, AirVault is designed to provide a safe, easy and effective technology to prevent the impact of Air-in-Line, a common disruptor of infusion therapy, which will result in improved safety for patients and healthcare staff. Gasgon Medical approached Health Innovation Hub Ireland (HIHI) to get feedback on its AirVault medical device from clinical experts to ensure it will meet the needs of healthcare professionals and their patients.

Through its clinical network, HIHI identified suitable clinicians to attend five focus groups in three different hospitals in Cork and Dublin. HIHI facilitated the focus groups, advised on the key questions which were addressed by over 35 experts in nurse practice development, nursing management, infection control, oncology, pharmacy, quality risk management and biomedical engineering.

The company received valuable feedback and suggestions, which assisted them in the final design of the AirVault. The clinical feedback also highlighted other use-cases for this technology which HIHI is currently helping the company to explore. Now with a design freeze, Gasgon is beginning a multi-centre study designed to capture clinical evidence and contribute towards CE mark and FDA accreditation

Read the full case study here: https://hih.ie/downloads/case-studies/HIHI-case-study_Gasgon_Medical.pdf

 

HIHI supports Cork sisters to pilot innovative sustainable PPE in healthcare

Cork sisters,  Dr Mary O’ Riordan and Lisa O’Riordan, have developed the HaPPE Apron- a more sustainable alternative to traditional personal protective equipment (PPE) in a bid to help cut carbon emissions from healthcare.

The “green” PPE apron is made from a proprietary resin that is composed of compostable bioplastics. It matches the safety parameters of current, medical Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE) single-use aprons, is CE approved and suitable for use in healthcare. Overall, the apron has a carbon footprint 75 per cent lower than a standard PPE apron, with no waste in the manufacturing process and using sustainable energy sources for production.

Health Innovation Hub Ireland working with the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital (SIVUH) in Cork piloted the HaPPE Apron with 7,000 aprons tested for wearability, acceptability, sustainability and durability, across the elective orthopaedic ward, the orthopaedic rehab ward and across the hospital catering and kitchen services.

“To see our compostable apron being used by frontline staff in the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital and to get such support from the HIHI team was invaluable to us. It is through collaboration like this that we bring practical solutions to our health system,” the co-founders said.

“Worldwide, the healthcare sector is responsible for as much as 4.6 per cent of total greenhouse gas emissions. If Ireland is to make an impact, we need to look at innovative products that reduce carbon emissions while maintaining safety, UCC has a strong sustainability agenda and we are delighted to support sustainable healthcare products” said Dr Tanya Mulcahy, Director of Health Innovation Hub Ireland.

UCC based Start-up Teleatherapy begins Health Innovation Hub Ireland pilot with the HSE

Founded in 2020 by Clare Meskill, Teleatherapy has developed a platform to better connect speech and language therapists with patients that have Parkinson’s disease.

The platform enables speech therapists to prescribe exercises for clients, which can then be completed at home through an app on their phone or tablet. This product is designed to save time for speech therapists and reduce waitlists for patients.

Through Health Innovation Hub Ireland, Teletherapy are piloting their platform within the HSE. The company will gather feedback from patients, carers and speech therapists as part of the pilot.

“Clare Meskill is a UCC graduate (College of Medicine and Health) and a UCC Ignite alumna, Teleatherapy has offices in UCC Gateway and it’s great that Health Innovation Hub Ireland is in a position to support the company development. Teleatherapy is improving the quality of life for Parkinson’s patients and we are delighted to be able to help”  Dr Tanya Mulcahy, Director Health Innovation Hub Ireland.

 

Cork’s Orthopaedic Medical Device Company OrthoXel supported by HIHI to address MDR compliance

Cork-based OrthoXel approached HIHI to assist it in carrying out the human factor usability testing of the completion of its Implant Card in compliance with the MDR. HIHI first identified that orthopaedic theatre nurses are the healthcare professionals responsible for completing the Implant Card in this case. Through its clinical network and the HSE clinical staff assigned to HIHI, HIHI identified orthopaedic theatre nurses and facilitated two rounds of ergonomic usability testing. HIHI provided clinical liaison and project management expertise throughout the project to ensure that this testing was carried out in line with OrthoXel’s tight timeline.

OrthoXel is a specialist orthopaedic trauma company, which uses innovative engineering design to evolve the next generation fracture fixation devices. Its innovative orthopaedic trauma devices are inspired by surgeons and are focussed on delivering superior patient outcomes. OrthoXel’s products include the Apex Tibial Nailing System and the Apex Femoral Nailing System, both of which are CE marked and FDA cleared.

https://hih.ie/downloads/case-studies/HIHI-case-study_OrthoXel.pdf