SCC teams up with NHS Trust for new tech hub
Birmingham-based IT group launches Digital Innovation Hub with South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust
SCC has teamed up with South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust (SWFT) to launch a hub that will speed up the digital delivery of care.
The Digital Innovation Hub provides clinicians with a facility that aims to accelerate the identification and development of digital care solutions and enable them to perform on-going trials of new technologies alongside the current care regime. The hub is also expected to "significantly" reduce hospital wait times and automate care management to provide people with the appropriate care quickly.
It was officially unveiled by Secretary for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock in a virtual ceremony at Stratford Hospital.
"This year has undoubtedly been one of the most challenging in the history of the NHS and I know that you have worked so hard to rise to this challenge. Not only have you risen to meet the challenge but the spirit of ingenuity and innovation that we've seen across the NHS has shown us just what else is possible when we bring health and technology together," Hancock stated during the ceremony.
"The Digital Innovation Hub we're launching today is a great example of bringing the public and private sectors together to deliver better care and better outcomes and experiences for patients.
"I want to pay tribute to Glen Burley and his team, and to SCC, a great British technology company, for partnering with the NHS. This is the kind of work that will help us across the UK to be a world leader in digital healthcare, giving colleagues on the front line the tools to make the right decisions and free up staff so they can focus on what they do best: taking care of people and saving lives."
Technologies available in the hub span from videoconferencing facilities for collaborative purposes to AI solutions that are expected to reduce the backlog of patients caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The virtual ceremony was also attended by SCC founder and executive chairman of the Rigby Group Sir Peter Rigby and SWFT CEO Glen Burley and featured technology demonstrations from health providers who are already using the hub.
Rigby said of the hub: "This is a very novel approach that we've taken to work intimately with an NHS Trust. We have been a supplier of technology to the NHS over the years but have built a very special relationship here, where we're working with the clinicians and the administrators of the Trust, along with our own technicians, to examine and develop established software opportunities and to industrialise them for the greater benefit of the wider NHS."
SWFT chief exec Burley added: "The Digital Innovation Hub is a really exciting project and emphases how digital will help the NHS moving forward.
"We wanted to create a facility where our clinicians can sit alongside the very best technology companies to develop solutions to meet the healthcare needs of the population now and for years to come.
"For the first time our clinicians are able to highlight problems that they are facing, and together we will design technology solutions with the very best brains in the business. Rather than looking on the shelves of technology solutions and seeing if they meet the needs of our patients, our clinicians will be co-producing and co-designing solutions."