Near-patient Bilirubin SBRI enters Phase 1
The West of Scotland Innovation Hub is working in partnership with the North of Scotland Innovation Hub to explore solutions to provide near-patient jaundice testing to neonates as part of a Chief Scientist Office funded Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI).
Jaundice is an almost universal phenomenon in newborns, affecting 60 per cent of babies in the first week of life.
Current pathways for testing and treatment requiring admission to neonatal units currently accounts for six per cent of all admissions. Improved point of care testing (POCT) will support diagnosis and treatment at home. New innovative testing being developed will involve a tiny amount of blood from a heel-prick at home, keeping families together.
The challenge originated in 2022 from a proposal submitted by Dr Lesley Jackson and Dr Martina Rodie from the Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow, to the Chief Scientist Office’s Women’s & Children’s Health Catalyst Fund, and has received additional support from Hi: Children’s Healthcare Innovation.
Dr Lesley Jackson, co-clinical lead for the project said, “Solving this challenge has the potential to impact on families across Scotland to keep them at home, keep them together, and out of the hospital”
Phase I of this SBRI will see clinicians from the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Highland collaborate with William Oak Diagnostics, who will adapt their micronutrient deficiency POCT technology, to detect and measure bilirubin levels in the blood for rapid diagnosis of jaundice.
Katriona Brooksbank, Innovation Lead at the West of Scotland Innovation Hub, said: “Collaboration with colleagues from across the country illustrates how we can best use resources to develop innovative solutions that enhance patient care.
“The use of both urban and rural testbeds will allow any processes or systems developed to be tested in different ways, which will contribute to how we make any developments fit for purpose.”
Hazel Dempsey, Innovation Programme Lead from the North of Scotland Innovation Hub said “We are really excited to be collaborating with our colleagues in the West of Scotland Innovation Hub to deliver this innovative project. Co-designing and testing in a large urban centre provided by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, and remote and rural settings provided by NHS Highland helps ensure that solutions developed can be applicable across Scotland”
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