We are happy to announce that the phase 2 of our Hip Fracture SBRI led by Prof. Alasdair MacLullich and Dr Andrew Hall started on 20th March 2023 and is expected to end on 20th December 2023. The company selected for phase 2 is Red Star AI.

Background

Hip fracture is a significant injury for elderly patients and can severely impact their quality of life. From a clinical point of view, it is subject to complex clinical pathways and suffers from many common problems with NHS IT systems where data is spread over multiple systems and not always available electronically.

An important factor is that hip fracture patients tend to be older and may have multiple and complex health issues resulting in complex clinical challenges to understand the entire patient picture.

Red Star have undertaken analysis with doctors, nurses, surgeons, geriatricians, physiotherapists, and others to understand what they need from a clinical system to help them care for patients.

Challenge Objectives

To develop a system that gathers routinely collected health data and provides decision support functionalities at key decision points in the hip-fracture care pathway from admission to rehabilitation (i.e. patient triage, prioritisation and optimisation).

Future Vision

Their analysis allowed them to conjure up a vision of what a future healthcare system would look like.

Whilst AI and advanced analytics are mooted as solutions, it is only by understanding the complex clinical pathways and needs of healthcare staff and patients that they can understand how to deploy these advanced technologies effectively.

Red Star will build a clinical system that is based on user needs and integrated with live data, which will be the foundation for the systems of the future.

In this project, Red Star will develop a working prototype of what a future clinical system looks like.

Their ambitious approach will:

  • Present a clear clinical picture of all the patient’s health needs
  • Pilot, and evaluate with users, well thought out user interfaces and advanced AI driven technologies
  • Integrate with clinical data sources (the ‘holy grail’ of interoperability)
  • Help doctors, nurses, geriatricians, physiotherapists, and many other clinicians coordinate with one another and improve communications and clinical workflows
  • Evaluate the use of advanced AI approaches to determine whether these really can improve patient outcomes and clinical efficiencies
  • Plan for the future implementation of these systems at scale across the NHS

Clinical Lead for the Challenge

The Clinical Lead for this innovation challenge is Professor Alasdair MacLullich, and co-Clinical Lead Dr Andrew Hall.  Alasdair is the Head of Department in Geriatric Medicine at the Usher Institute, ERI Ortho-Geriatrician Consultant at NHS Lothian, and Chair of the Scottish Hip Fracture Audit Steering Group. Andrew is a SORT-IT & SHFA Research Fellow and Specialty Registrar for Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgery at NHS Lothian, Deputy Chair of the Scottish Hip Fracture Audit (SHFA) Research Group, a Clinical Teaching Fellow at NHS Lothian, and Clinical Tutor Associate at the University of Edinburgh.

Delivery Partners

Health Innovation South East Scotland (HISES), NHS Lothian, University of Edinburgh and The DataLoch.

SBRI Key Dates

  • Phase 2 start date: 20 March 2023
  • Phase 2 end date: 20 December 2023

Funding Partners

This is a Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) competition funded by the Chief Scientists Office (CSO) in Scottish Government and hosted by Health Innovation South East Scotland.