Improving health through innovation

Funding for scientific and technological health projects

More than £6 million will be invested as part of the Accelerated National Innovations Adoption (ANIA) programme to help people with type 2 Diabetes, stroke patients and babies born with a rare genetic condition.

A national digital intensive weight management programme will support 3,000 people recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. With £4.5 million invested over three years the project is expected to help around 40% to achieve remission from the condition by the end of their first year in the programme.

Two additional projects will look at pharmacogenetics – how a person’s genetics affect their response to certain drugs.

A total of £1.1 million will support testing of recent stroke patients to determine if they have a genetic variation that impairs the benefits of a drug commonly prescribed to reduce the risk of secondary stroke and which would mean an alternative drug should be considered for them.

A programme to provide a genetic test for newborn babies will also receive £800,000 funding to determine if they have a genetic variation which puts them at risk of permanent hearing loss if they are treated with a common emergency antibiotic.

Cabinet Secretary for Health Neil Gray said: “In January the First Minister laid out our vision for Scotland’s NHS with digital innovation being a crucial part of our plans to reform health services.

“So I am pleased to announce funding for these projects which demonstrate the transformative potential of scientific and technological innovation to improve health and social care.

“These projects have life changing effects for those who will benefit from them, resulting in improved health outcomes and a better quality of life.

“Innovation is transforming healthcare and delivering medical benefits for the people of Scotland and the NHS, which will see reduced pressures as a direct result of projects just like these.”

Chief Executive of NHS Golden Jubilee, Gordon James, said: “”The approval of these innovative projects through the Accelerated National Innovation Adoption (ANIA) pathway is a significant step in delivering transformative innovations at scale to benefit patients all across Scotland.

“Lead by the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD), this project to deliver the diabetes remission programmes, pharmacogenetic testing for stroke, and genetic testing for newborns was an incredible example of collaboration from NHS organisations and colleagues to deliver the highest possible standard of patient care.

“The ANIA pathway is an initiative by NHS Scotland aimed at expediting the integration of high-impact innovations into healthcare services, and that’s exactly these new programmes will offer for more patients across Scotland than ever before.”

Chief Scientist, Prof Dame Anna Dominiczak said: “Scotland’s triple helix of industry, academia and our NHS are working in partnership to lead a scientific revolution which has the power to transform healthcare. 

“These are excellent examples of research enabled, clinically beneficial and cost-effective innovations, which should be prioritised for national adoption”