13.03.13
Health Apps Library and Innovation Centre launched
A new Centre of Innovation Excellence is being launched today by health secretary Jeremy Hunt to identify and develop new technology to be used in the NHS.
The centre, based in London and established by Johnson & Johnson, will promote jobs and business for universities, research councils and charities to focus on dementia, cancer, infectious diseases, immunology, biomarkers for disease and surgical devices.
A new Health Apps Library will also be launched to provide advice and support for a range of conditions. The library contains 70 apps for NHS customers, with ten new apps to be announced at the Innovation Expo 2013 today.
In collaboration with NHS Commissioning Board and Creative Skills for Life, Creative England is launching a £250,000 competition to create further apps. SMEs will be invited to apply for investment through the Regional Growth Fund, and the funding is expected to support the creation of five new apps.
Announcing the new centre, Hunt will say: “I want to give doctors and nurses the time and space to deliver patient centred care – to do this we need to innovate.
“Our universities are among the very best in the world and our scientists and clinicians are second to none. I am determined to cement and accelerate our position as the number one place for health and pharmaceutical companies to invest and grow and hopefully develop the next generation of medical breakthroughs.”
Paul Stoffels MD, Johnson & Johnson chief scientific officer and worldwide chairman, pharmaceuticals, said: “Science and technology hold unprecedented opportunities to transform healthcare, and by investing and collaborating in groundbreaking science we can deliver transformational innovations in healthcare to people across the world.”
The competition to develop new apps for the Health Library will offer “a great stepping stone” for companies, Creative England’s director of business development, Jim Farmery, said.
Tim Kelsey, national director for patients and information at the NHS Commissioning Board, added: “Giving people easier access to their NHS and improving outcomes with technology is something we are strongly committed to. People now use phone apps in almost all walks of life and health is no different.
“We want to put patients in control, giving people easy access to information will encourage patients and the public to participate in their care and the NHS in general.
“There is somewhere in the region of 13,000 apps out there which profess to give various types of medical advice. The library is a way of giving an NHS stamp of approval to apps so users know they are safe.”
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