European Funding for EPIC Health Project
The University of Plymouth and a collaboration of Cornish and national partners have been awarded £2.7million European Regional Development funding to improve the use of e-health in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
The project, known as E-health Productivity and Innovation in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (EPIC), will involve doctors, nurses, care homes, patients, University academics and small companies in the region to help find the best uses of the internet, apps, and robotics in health and social care.
Initiatives could include use of video calls to better connect care home residents, development and implementation of apps that support people wanting to make positive behavioural changes, care robots to comfort people with dementia, or even the use of drones to get emergency equipment to rural locations quickly.
The collaboration includes Kernow Health CIC, Cornwall Partners in Care, Patients Association, and Creative England, who will work to find technologies that can best help improve services, along with those which are, or can be, produced within Cornwall.
Challenge Fund
The ERDF grant pays for seven project posts, support for small technology companies and contributes to a Challenge Fund of £600,000. Creative England will support small and medium-sized enterprises based in Cornwall with sector specific expertise and applications to the fund, offering the potential to create new jobs and support business growth.
Project staff will support clinicians, patients, carers and others in bidding for funds from the Challenge Fund to develop and test their ideas.
The project will cover all of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly but have bases in general practices and care homes in St Ives, Redruth, and Liskeard as well as University centres in Truro.
Dr Dan Rainbow from Stennack Surgery in St Ives explains why the project will be beneficial for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly,
“After 15 years of working with patients in this community, it’s obvious that there are gaps in certain areas where I’m sure technology has a role to play in helping to support our patients,” he said. “I think technology has had a fairly chequered history in the NHS over the years, and it’s exciting to work with people who understand the technology to build up a way of working with our patients from the grass roots upwards to make it work in practice.”
Project director, Ray Jones, Professor of E-Health at the University of Plymouth, said,
“This is a great opportunity for Cornwall to become a centre of excellence in the use of technology for health and social care. It involves people with a range of expertise from across the University, including nursing, medicine, psychology, robotics, business, and public health, working with numerous collaborators across Cornwall and taking a ‘bottom up’ approach to find or develop technologies that will improve services.
Bob Egerton Cornwall Council Portfolio Holder for Economy and Culture, said, “With an aging population, we know the demands of our health care services are going to increase. Investments into the “Healthtech” sector are extremely important for the wellbeing of people everywhere. It will also help to grow Cornwall’s expertise and leadership in the subject which, presents us with the opportunity to export the knowledge. We can then expect growth and development of the economy as well as jobs and higher than average salaries.”
Webinar session
On Friday 4th August 2017, 12.00–13.00, a webinar offering an introduction to the EPIC project will be available. The main focus of the webinar will be on the use of ehealth by Cornwall Partnership Foundation Trust, and the use of ehealth in the community. Speakers will include Dr Rohit Shankar.
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Notes to editor
European Regional Development Fund
The project is receiving up to £2,730,513 of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. The Department for Communities and Local Government is the Managing Authority for ERDF. Established by the European Union ERDF funds help local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations. For more information visit https://www.gov.uk/european-growth-funding
Ehealth Productivity and Innovation in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (EPIC)
EPIC is a collaborative project partly funded by the European Regional Development Fund. University of Plymouth and partners aim to improve the use of e-health in Cornwall.
We aim to improve the use of technology in both health and social care hoping:
- to improve health and wellbeing of people in Cornwall
- and improve the Cornish economy in this sector.
The EPIC project started in May 2017 for three years.
About the University of Plymouth
The University of Plymouth is renowned for high quality, internationally-leading education, research and innovation.
With a mission to Advance Knowledge and Transform Lives, Plymouth is a *top 50 research university with clusters of world class research across a wide range of disciplines including marine science and engineering, medicine, robotics and psychology. A twice winner of the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher Education, the University of Plymouth continues to grow in stature and reputation.
It has a strong track record for teaching and learning excellence, and has one of the highest numbers of National Teaching Fellows of any UK university. With 21,000 students, and a further 17,000 studying for a Plymouth degree at partner institutions in the UK and around the world, and over 100,000 alumni pursuing their chosen careers globally, it has a growing global presence.
* Research Fortnight Research Power League Table 2014.