Since 2001 government policy has created a new set of professionals, Emergency Care Practitioners (ECPs), and a new style of urgent healthcare provision to support the vision of a healthcare service designed around the patient. ECPs are paramedics and nurses with additional training to treat patients at home, in minor injuries units or to stabilise patients for transport to specialist clinical units. Although professional training has been developed for ECPs there has been no research to look at the technologies needed to support this new role. This project is looking at emergency and urgent care work in detail. We propose that supporting technologies can be delivered as Smart Pods with three components: a vehicle/docking system, a treatment (vehicle) unit and a treatment package system (equipment and consumables). The first stage of the project is to model the operational systems to determine the distribution of the vehicle/docking systems for the Smart Pods to deliver the right care at the right time in the right place. At the same time we will be working with clinical partners in the East Midlands and South West to look at 4-6 treatment types (including chest pain, minor head injuries, minor illnesses and falls). These treatment types will be analysed in detail in A&E departments, minor injuries units and ambulance services to look for similarities and differences in clinical practice to provide the framework for the treatment packages and initial data for the layout in the treatment (vehicle) unit. We will propose a standardised pathway for the treatment types and will use a simulation mannequin to test the clinical treatment unit layout in a laboratory with doctors, nurses and ECPs.We will start working on the design of the vehicle by reviewing the current systems and looking at distribution and delivery systems in other industries, e.g. military, car breakdown services, food delivery. We will look at how new emergency care vehicles are ordered, purchased and manufactured and compare this with other low-volume vehicle manufacturing (e.g. Lotus, Maclaren) to help us develop viable solutions. This information will be used to look at both manufacturing and purchasing issues to explore if the Smart Pods concept is viable.Vehicle engineering and associated systems options will be surveyed, in particular chassis/drive chain and intelligent vehicle technologies and we will consider sustainability issues in terms of full life-cycle energy usage. Computer models and animation scenarios covering the full range of proposed SmartPod applications will be developed. The final part of this first phase of the project will start to consider issues of implementation in more depth with patient groups representing people affected by a range of urgent and emergency care conditions. We will also consult members of the lay public, clinicians, and those involved in the planning for, managing, and evaluating urgent and emergency care to investigate views on change in the provision of urgent and emergency care and to identify any unanticipated challenges (e.g. political, organisational, cultural) in implementing change.

Since 2001 government policy has created a new set of professionals, Emergency Care Practitioners (ECPs), and a new style of urgent healthcare provision to support the vision of a healthcare service designed around the patient. ECPs are paramedics and nurses with additional training to treat patients at home, in minor injuries units or to stabilise patients for transport to specialist clinical units. Although professional training has been developed for ECPs there has been no research to look at the technologies needed to support this new role. This project is looking at emergency and urgent care work in detail. We propose that supporting technologies can be delivered as Smart Pods with three components: a vehicle/docking system, a treatment (vehicle) unit and a treatment package system (equipment and consumables). The first stage of the project is to model the operational systems to determine the distribution of the vehicle/docking systems for the Smart Pods to deliver the right care at the right time in the right place. At the same time we will be working with clinical partners in the East Midlands and South West to look at 4-6 treatment types (including chest pain, minor head injuries, minor illnesses and falls). These treatment types will be analysed in detail in A&E departments, minor injuries units and ambulance services to look for similarities and differences in clinical practice to provide the framework for the treatment packages and initial data for the layout in the treatment (vehicle) unit. We will propose a standardised pathway for the treatment types and will use a simulation mannequin to test the clinical treatment unit layout in a laboratory with doctors, nurses and ECPs.We will start working on the design of the vehicle by reviewing the current systems and looking at distribution and delivery systems in other industries, e.g. military, car breakdown services, food delivery. We will look at how new emergency care vehicles are ordered, purchased and manufactured and compare this with other low-volume vehicle manufacturing (e.g. Lotus, Maclaren) to help us develop viable solutions. This information will be used to look at both manufacturing and purchasing issues to explore if the Smart Pods concept is viable.Vehicle engineering and associated systems options will be surveyed, in particular chassis/drive chain and intelligent vehicle technologies and we will consider sustainability issues in terms of full life-cycle energy usage. Computer models and animation scenarios covering the full range of proposed SmartPod applications will be developed. The final part of this first phase of the project will start to consider issues of implementation in more depth with patient groups representing people affected by a range of urgent and emergency care conditions. We will also consult members of the lay public, clinicians, and those involved in the planning for, managing, and evaluating urgent and emergency care to investigate views on change in the provision of urgent and emergency care and to identify any unanticipated challenges (e.g. political, organisational, cultural) in implementing change.

Hospital neurology and neurophysiology services are increasingly overwhelmed. With a growing and ageing population, the incidence of many brain conditions (such as dementia and epilepsy) are rapidly increasing. Compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, there are now over 10,000 people in the UK waiting more than a year for an appointment with a neurologist. Things must change! The purpose of our Network is to address these challenges through the development of new technologies that enable diagnosis and management in the community. These services could be provided in a community diagnostic hub, by high-street healthcare professionals, in a GP surgery, in a mobile unit or even in the home environment. Our focus will be on new digital solutions built around neural interfacing, signal processing, machine learning and mathematical modelling. We will work closely with partners developing technologies for measuring brain, eye, spinal, and peripheral nerve activity using wearable technology and minimally invasive devices. Collectively, this will contribute to a significant increase in capacity that will augment the expertise provided in neurology services. To achieve this, we will build a network of partners with backgrounds spanning academia, industry, hospitals and GP surgeries, charities and policy makers. Crucially we will ensure that people with lived experience of neurological conditions are at the heart of our network. Their experience will inform debate and shape our research priorities, ensuring feasibility and acceptability of emerging technologies. We will empower people from different backgrounds and career stages to work together on challenging problems whose solutions will lead to societal benefit. To enable this we plan a suite of activities built around the principles of connect, communicate and collaborate. To connect people we will build a website and social media presence, create a public representation group and build new parnterships. We will establish a mentorship scheme and post opportunities for people at different career stages to undertake secondments with partner organisations. To facilitate communication, we will engage with stakeholders including the public, people with neurological conditions, healthcare providers and policy makers. We will host workshops on emerging areas of interest, as well as an annual conference to celebrate findings from across the network. To enable collaboration we will host events including stake-holder led study groups, sandpits and research incubators: where teams of partners will work collaboratively in a facilitated environment, conducting feasibility studies over 6-9 months.