How are innovative ideas supported in an organisation as vast, complex and busy as NHS?

SHIL Executive Chairman Graham Watson (below), explains: “Finding time to innovate amongst clinical or personal commitment is a challenge so we simplify this process and provide the right support for staff with strong ideas."

“We offer a robust, nationally supported innovation pathway with an expert team providing all the required skills – evaluation of ideas, intellectual property protection, project management, funding advice, licensing, product development, prototypes, regulatory approval, and commercialisation”

“Essentially this means we look to see if the idea is genuinely new or if it is something that has been done before. We will check that it is technically feasible and if the intellectual property (IP) involved in the idea can be protected. Then we can support and fund the development and commercialisation, contracting with partners and working collaboratively with the original inventor and associated NHS Health Board. ”

Head of Innovation, Robert Rea adds: “While the process can initially sound quite daunting, we make it very accessible for NHS professionals. We have staff based in R&D teams around Scotland, run regular workshops and events and makes lots of helpful resources available through our website”

With over 1700 ideas submitted since SHIL was set up, the team have taken the most frequently asked questions from health professionals and published a useful Inventor Guide which guides staff through the process of developing ideas to commercial success.

But do ideas actually make it to market? The simple answer is yes.   

Over the years the team have successfully commercialised a range of products and spin-out companies, working with health professionals across the spectrum of disease and medical backgrounds. Many of these products have reached international health markets and other sectors, such as veterinary and military. Another benefit to the NHS and the NHS inventor is receiving a financial return on commercially successful projects.

Watson explains, “Since inception, SHIL has been focused on protecting the interests of the NHS - we help develop innovative solutions that improve patient care, while at the same time, generate income and capital for the NHS.”

SHIL has already been instrumental in securing IP protection, whether in the form of patents,  trade marks, or design rights, for over 250 NHS inventions; and has also negotiated over 25 commercial licensing deals with companies in the UK and internationally.

A recent example – the Patient Transfer Scale – came from NHS Lanarkshire Emergency Department nurse, Gillian Taylor and launched in November last year. Growing frustrated by the difficulty of weighing immobile patients when they arrived at her department, Gillian approached SHIL in 2014 with an idea to develop an innovative weighing scale designed to weigh patients unable to stand due to injuries or illness - in many situations an accurate patient weight is needed to determine medication dosage, so a solution was needed.

 “The only way to weigh an immobile patient was to use a hoist scale or a bed scale, but both were time consuming, and could be cumbersome. I decided there must be an easier way” said Gillian.

Gillian had the idea of weighing a patient as they are transferred from a trolley to a bed, an existing process that requires the use of a device known as a transfer board. With help from NHS Lanarkshire and SHIL, and appointment of commercial partner Marsden, the product was developed and tested in 30 hospitals and the revolutionary scale launched in November 2018 as the first of its type in the world.

Speaking of the development process, SHIL Project Manager Sheena MacCormick said: “As a front line member of staff at NHS Lanarkshire, Gillian knew exactly what her patients needed. The Patient Transfer Scale (PTS) presented a truly novel concept that met an obvious patient need. We were able to protect Gillian’s idea, fund and support development, and then secure technical and manufacturing expertise through commercial partner Marsden. The end result is a product, informed by end users throughout the process, which will now make a positive difference to patient care not only in Scotland but around the world.”

This is just one of a number of examples. Others include SCRAM ® - a portfolio of emergency airway bags designed to enhance the performance of emergency airway management outwith the operating theatre. This was developed as an idea from Scottish Ambulance Service Air Ambulance Paramedic Paul Swinton, and has seen the products used across the UK, Canada and Australia.

Using a different commercial model, SHIL have also supported six companies to spin-out of NHS. Such companies are set up to produce and market healthcare innovations that originate from NHS Scotland employees. The first of these was Touch Bionics, back in 2002. In 2016 it was acquired by Icelandic company Össur in a deal worth £27.5million and continues to lead the world in development of upper limb prosthetic technologies.

More recent spin outs include the medical devices company, Clear Surgical, and Aurum Biosciences who were recently granted a second EU patent for their ABL-101 imaging technology, adding to their growing portfolio of diagnostic technologies being developed for use in acute stroke patients.

Watson concludes: “Supporting the spread of healthcare innovation has the dual benefit of improving patient care and stimulating economic wealth; whilst supporting Scotland’s vision to become a world-leading entrepreneurial and innovative nation. I’m proud of our continued work at SHIL to support innovation across NHS and build on Scotland’s proven record of pioneering invention and medical innovation”

Find out more at www.shil.co.uk