Digital pioneers can bid for £1million in NHSX funding to scale up or buy new tech to treat MSK conditions.
Physios can bid for up to £200,000 per Integrated Care System – with a total of £1million available across England – for tech that creates new ‘digital pathways’ for MSK services.
A further £120,000 is available for those addressing digital inequality in areas from MSK, COPD and chronic respiratory disease to cancer.
Funding is available for digital solutions to support people to maintain and improve their own health and wellbeing and physical activity, which could include remote consultations, web-based exercise programmes or online education.
Self-management and self-referral initiatives are also within scope, under the aim of giving rapid access to advice and guidance and to support decision making around patient care.
New diagnostic tools - including virtual clinics - are also eligible, as initiatives aimed at ordering, sharing and managing clinical investigation data and images virtually.
Bids for the funding must be submitted by 17 September through the NHSX website.
CSP health informatics lead Euan McComiskie says,
We welcome this funding as a much-needed boost to the NHS’s commitment to expanding patient choice with digital options.
‘Members have been transforming services through technological innovations during the pandemic, but due to limited resources this has often been an add-on to their frontline work.
'This will enable those digital pioneers to engage professional expertise to turn their pilots into large-scale projects that achieve widespread change.
‘We encourage all those with established ideas ready to be scaled up, or new ideas to enhance patient outcomes through digital tools to apply for funding.’
Number of subscribers: 2