Health Innovation Hub Ireland (HIHI) is marking this year’s Innovation Week led by the Local Enterprise Offices by spotlighting the successful clinical evaluation of the HELP Platform, an innovative digital solution designed to support people living with chronic pain and strengthen self-management within Ireland’s healthcare system.

Innovation Week celebrates Irish enterprise, collaboration, and innovation nationwide, and the HELP Platform case study demonstrates how structured engagement between healthcare services and innovators can accelerate the development of impactful, patient-centred solutions.

Developed by chartered physiotherapist and researcher Dr Kate Sheridan of Dublin City University, the HELP Platform (Healing and Empowering Lives in Pain) was created to address a significant gap in accessible, evidence-based resources for individuals managing chronic pain. The digital platform provides a trusted, centralised hub that supports users in understanding pain, building self-management skills, and accessing local supports and services.

Addressing a critical healthcare challenge

Chronic pain remains an under-resourced area across Ireland, where access to multidisciplinary pain services is limited and patients can face long delays before receiving specialised care. Fragmented information and limited self-management supports further challenge both patients and clinicians.

Through HIHI’s clinical evaluation programme, five clinical experts working in chronic pain services assessed the HELP Platform, identifying strong clinical appetite for digital interventions that can complement traditional care pathways and relieve pressure on overstretched services.

Clinicians highlighted the platform’s ability to provide patients with evidence-based guidance outside clinical appointments while also offering healthcare professionals a structured and standardised educational resource to support care delivery and training.

HIHI’s role in accelerating innovation

HIHI connected the innovator with key opinion leaders and end-users across the health system, enabling meaningful evaluation and real-world feedback. Using our structured, stage-gated evaluation framework, we supported product refinement, validated clinical need, and helped build a network of clinical champions to inform future implementation.

Speaking about the collaboration, Dr Sheridan said:
“The support of HIHI was invaluable to the development of the HELP Platform. By facilitating access to clinicians across services, they enabled meaningful review of the prototype and provided critical insights that helped shape next steps for development and implementation.”

Innovation Week spotlight on collaboration

As Innovation Week highlights the role of entrepreneurship and innovation in regional and national growth, HIHI emphasises the importance of partnerships between innovators, clinicians, and enterprise supports in delivering solutions that improve patient outcomes while strengthening healthcare sustainability.

The HELP Platform case study illustrates how co-designed digital health innovations grounded in patient experience and clinical expertise can help transform care delivery by empowering patients and supporting healthcare professionals.

At HIHI we work with companies, clinicians, and researchers nationwide to evaluate and scale innovations that enhance patient pathways, improve outcomes, and position Ireland as a global leader in health innovation. Read the full case study here https://hih.ie/downloads/case-studies/HIHI-case-study_HELP-Platform.pdf