Breaking traditional boundaries in healthcare provision

We are providing healthcare organisations with innovative ways to meet the pressures of rising costs and increasing demand. Through improved productivity, new technology and greater personalisation of care, our innovation specialists are developing the new products and ways of working that will provide the healthcare of tomorrow.

Halving the time to develop a novel diagnostic instrument for patients receiving critical care

Sphere Medical is one of the UK’s leading medical device and diagnostic companies. It needed to develop an in vitro blood analyser for the diagnosis and monitoring of patients in critical care. The new instrument incorporated Sphere’s innovative sensing technology and had to be produced to extremely tight timescales.

PA was asked to support this project and responded quickly by immediately installing a team of experienced engineers. We worked closely alongside the client’s team, providing additional skills in software development and overall management for the project.

The joint PA/Sphere team took the instrument from concept to regulatory submission in nine months – a process that, for an instrument of this complexity, might normally be expected to take at least 18 months.

Reducing process times for innovative knee repair surgery

CellCoTec is a development stage orthopaedics company working on a groundbreaking tissue regeneration therapy to repair damaged knee cartilage. It wanted to automate its laboratory processes, improve cell yield and reduce process times. PA’s health innovation experts applied their unique blend of development capabilities and implementation expertise to deliver this novel project.

Our team comprised life scientists who advised on cell handling and enzyme digestion, and manufacturing process experts who created novel machine concept to overcome the technical challenges. These included the need for complex and delicate manipulation and processing of cells in large and small volumes of fluid.

PA facilitated workshops to agree priorities and combined this with practical engineering and rapid prototyping to build proof-of-principle test rigs. As a result, the company was able to transform laboratory-based processes into automated procedures, reducing process times and improving yields.

Helping NHS London and the London Deanery identify £20 million of savings

NHS London, together with the London Deanery, needed to change the model of managing postgraduate medical and dental education in London. They were responding to a UK health policy requirement to separate commissioning from provider functions. In parallel the organisations wanted to improve quality, promote innovation in education delivery and realise long-term efficiency savings in response to the changing financial environment.

PA was asked to support the design and implementation of a new system of commissioning and provision. This included the design of new organisations and the development of a market of providers to oversee local education delivery. We have supported the devolution of the provider activities, and worked closely with London Deanery staff to create organisations that will commission and support this activity. Our combined teams of procurement, shared services experts, organisational change specialists and medical and dental workforce leads have delivered a series of highly complex assignments. This has culminated in the transition to a new commissioner for all medical and non-medical education in London, overseeing spending of approximately £1.1 billion.

The changes are expected to bring significant improvements in the quality and effectiveness of medical and dental education, as well as reductions in cost. Independent assessments suggest these savings will amount to more than £20 million by improving care to patients through better education and training of doctors and dentists.

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