Many new rapid diagnostic tests which greatly reduce the timeframe for infection diagnosis have recently been developed. During the year, MOIC have been working on two projects in the area of rapid diagnostics. One, in the hospital setting is with Accelerate who have a device that is used in the diagnosis of septicaemia. This project has included the development of a health economic model and the installation of a number of machines in NI hospitals.
Under the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) scheme, commercial companies work closely with the Trusts in order to find new solutions to health and social care problems. During 2018/19 a number of phase 2 projects commenced and MOIC were involved in in the following areas:
MOIC has worked with commercial partner Healthcare Analytics on the continued of secure analytic tagging. Using the technology, it is possible to track medical equipment as it moves through the hospital and community setting. This can be used to ensure that assets can be found and to record cleaning and maintenance of medical equipment. During the year beacons were installed across the Antrim Area Hospital site and the relevant readers were received. Significant work was undertaken to ensure appropriate information and IT governance were secured, including the completion of the appropriate privacy impact assessment and a data access agreement as well as meeting cyber–security requirements. A number of beds and mattresses have now been tagged and these will be used to demonstrate the system during 2019. Regular meetings continue to be held with CHIC, Multitone and Healthcare Analytics in order to map future projects.
In Northern Ireland, the ENCOMPASS programme is developing a digital integrated care record for Northern Ireland. MOIC are contributing to the development of the medicines aspects of this system. During the year a baseline audit of medication charts was conducted in all five Trusts and data analysis for the audit was carried out by MOIC.
MOIC staff have been contributing and will continue to contribute to a number of key policy and health infrastructure areas. This has included contributing to the development of a Strategic Action Plan for Antimicrobial Resistance, which will be launched in 2019/20. It is anticipated that MOIC will take the lead in the following areas: