Four Net Zero projects in Sussex have won funding through the latest SBRI competition 24.
The Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) Healthcare is a national award-winning programme. It accelerates innovative technologies in the NHS and the wider health and social care system, tackling unmet health and care needs. SBRI Healthcare provides funding and support to early-stage projects enabling testing for business feasibility and technology development as well as to more mature products by supporting real world implementation studies. The programme is funded by the Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC) which brings together industry, government, regulators, patients and the NHS, and is supported by the Health Innovation Network.
“Health Innovation KSS is proud to celebrate the remarkable achievements of Sussex in winning an impressive four bids. This success is a testament to the hard work, dedication and innovative spirit of the healthcare professionals and organisations within Sussex. We commend Sussex for their outstanding contributions to health innovation and for leading the way in transforming healthcare services for the betterment of all.” – Amelia James, Sustainability Lead for Health Innovation Kent Surrey Sussex and Health Innovation Oxford and Thames Valley.
The four Sussex projects that won funding were:
Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust: Delivering a low carbon neurorehabilitation pathway
Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust had two successful bids submitted by its Care Without Carbon programme team. The first was for £92,550 in funding to support the development of a virtual neurorehabilitation care model that addresses carbon hotspots and aims to realise the full breadth of sustainability benefits: including air pollution, climate adaptation and health equity.
The project includes a six-month pilot of the use of video appointments in neurorehabilitation services. As well as training clinicians in digital communication skills, it will measure and evaluate the wider environmental benefits of this care pathway and seek to identify further opportunities to reduce its carbon footprint. Findings will inform guidance for other clinical services to support wider adoption of this model of care.
Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust: Digital Green Impact Assessment Tool
The second project comes from the Care Without Carbon team in partnership with NHS Sussex. They have created a green impact assessment tool empowering healthcare staff to make sustainable decisions; it highlights opportunities to reduce the environmental impact of a project, policy or service with a simple digital tool.
The tool, which includes a reporting dashboard, will enable those using it to understand, and therefore minimise, a range of environmental impacts. This will help to embed sustainable healthcare principles in project work and service innovations and broaden understanding of sustainable healthcare. It will also provide identifiable links to everyday work and facilitates a common language around sustainability and net zero transformation. This project has received funding of £81,893.
“Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust established its approach to net zero over a decade ago – Care Without Carbon (CWC). CWC is a holistic framework aiming to deliver Net Zero by integrating sustainability into the fabric of healthcare delivery through eight workstreams. Delivered by the CWC team at a number of trusts in Sussex, Surrey and beyond, we are targeting Net Zero Carbon through actions and programmes that are measurable and monitored via trust and ICS governance processes. By working together as a system on sustainability in this way, we’re aiming to speed up our transition to net zero by sharing learning, avoiding duplication and finding efficiencies of scale through joint working. The Green Impact Assessment tool is a great example of this in practice, and will support progress across all NHS providers in Sussex.” Susie Vernon, Associate Director Sustainability at Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust.
“We are very grateful for the support Health Innovation Kent Surrey Sussex provided for our funding bids. This included both refinement of ideas in early stages and reviewing our applications. At all stages of the application process, the Health Innovation team were available to answer our questions and provide their excellent insight. ” – Dr Lauren Davis, Clinical Sustainability Manager, Care Without Carbon.
Brighton and Sussex Medical School: Novel methods for decontamination enabling reuse of airway devices
Led by Professor Mahmood Bhutta at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, this project has won £99,493 to test new methods of decontaminating airway devices onsite so that they can be re-used safely whilst reducing the carbon cost significantly. These new methods will use ultraviolet radiation or a chemical, hydrogen peroxide, to destroy germs which may still be on the device after washing with water. To make sure these methods are safe for patients we will test how well the devices are cleaned using a specialist method to test for the presence of germs in very low numbers. Health Innovation KSS and our evaluation partners, Unity Insights, will perform an evaluation of this project and previously we funded the initial Return on Investment and carbon saving report analysis for which this project now builds upon.
Professor Mahmood Bhutta, said: “Single use devices and instruments are now widespread in anaesthesia, including airway devices such as laryngoscopes and breathing tubes, with 32 million of these used and thrown away In England every year. Using this grant, we hope to demonstrate methods that enable safe reuse. Our initial estimates are that if we do that we could cut the carbon of these devices by around half, as well as save the NHS money.”
University of Brighton: The development, evaluation and dissemination of an environmental sustainability recipe book to reduce the carbon footprint of intensive care
The Intensive Care Environmental Sustainability Recipe Book will be speciality-specific, evidence-based guidance on reducing the environmental footprint of intensive care units in the UK. This will include practical information for procurement, clinical procedures, waste management and a measurable daily checklist for environmentally sustainable intensive care practice. Statutory requirements and professional standards for healthcare and sustainability in the four nations of the UK will be considered throughout the Recipe Book. The project is a collaboration between the University of Brighton, Intensive Care Society, Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine and UK Critical Care Nursing Alliance, and has received £ 98,125 in funding. The Health Innovation KSS were delighted to support with reviewing and refining the application.
In addition to these Sussex projects, Health Innovation KSS and Health Innovation Oxford and Thames Valley, supported the application for the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare (CSH) who won £99,910 for their project “Taking collective action to deliver low carbon, equitable maternity care”. The project will engage and empower maternity care clinicians with the knowledge and skills to address carbon hotspots, actively test changes and reduce the environmental impacts of maternity services whilst prioritising outcomes and equity.
