HEALTHTECH INNOVATION GATEWAY (10233)

NHS Shared Business Services Limited (NHS SBS) act in an Agency capacity for and on behalf of its customers (Approved Organisations) - existing and new. These comprise of NHS and Social Care organisations (whether acting individually, or on behalf of, or together as members of any consortia) along with any other public or private sector bodies which NHS SBS authorises to use the resulting Framework/Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS).

NHS Shared Business Services intends to go to tender to put in place a HealthTech Innovation Gateway for the provision of Digital and Health Technology related Goods and Services supporting innovation in healthcare to be used by NHS SBS Approved Organisations.

The HealthTech Innovation Gateway is a commercial solution underpinned by a Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) and a procurement and commercial support 'service wrap' that aims to support suppliers (including innovators, start-ups and new entrants) navigate the NHS buying landscape and also streamline NHS buyers' adoption of emerging digital and health technology.

Initially, the HealthTech Innovation Gateway will focus on technologies involving healthcare related Artificial Intelligence and Extended Reality (XR), also known as Immersive Technologies (immersive computer-generated environments):

• Artificial Intelligence for Healthcare is an opportunity to increase efficiency in decision making of Health and Care professional staff in varied ways. These sets of technologies support and automate problem solving carried out by medical professionals and allow them to make quicker and better decisions which humans alone would not be able to make. A broad range of techniques can be used to create artificially intelligent systems that carry out or augment health and care tasks, which have until now been completed by humans, or have not been possible previously; the possible techniques include but are not limited to inductive logic programming, machine learning, robotic process automation, natural language processing, computer vision, neural networks and distributed artificial intelligence.
• Extended Reality or Immersive Technologies (XR) is an umbrella term that encompasses virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR).

XR enables a digital layer on top of the real world. This can range from small changes to the physical environment, such as visual overlays, to large changes, such as entire simulated worlds.

The NICE Evidence Standards Framework for Digital Health Technologies (DHT) shows how the technologies (AI and XR) can expand through all the spectrum of risk related to intended use. This means that they can be used for treating and diagnosing medical conditions, or guiding care choices (Tier C), for helping people and patients to manage their own health and wellness (Tier B), or they can intend to save costs or release staff time, with no direct patient, health or care outcomes (Tier A). We will align to NICE Classification of technologies.

NHS SBS intends to add additional categories over time and all DPS suppliers and those who wish to join the DPS, will be invited to express an interest in any additional category.

It is envisaged filters of healthcare technology areas may be used to support the call off competition process.

Our Approved Organisation list of clients who access our frameworks can be found at: sbs.nhs.uk/proc-framework-agree… ↗

We are committed to working with suppliers who are dedicated to Sustainability and Social Value and there will be a significant weighting on these elements in the tender.