The winners of the Health Inequalities Targeted Call, a collaborative initiative supported by NHS Innovation Accelerator, NHS England, and NHS Race and Health Observatory, were announced at The Royal Society of Medicine conference, ‘Tackling Inequalities: Through innovation and entrepreneurship’ on Tuesday, 16 January 2024. C2-Ai and Sickle Cell Society emerged victorious in the search for innovative solutions aimed at addressing healthcare inequalities.

C2-Ai employs advanced clinical Artificial Intelligence solutions to conduct patient-specific risk assessments, considering factors like ethnicity, deprivation data, and other social determinants in health, leading to a significant reduction in harm, mortality rates, and avoidable costs. Concurrently, the Sickle Cell Society collaborates with healthcare professionals and individuals affected by sickle cell disorders, offering non-clinical support programs such as the Children and Young People’s Mentoring Programme. This initiative aims to empower individuals for independent condition management, reducing reliance on hospital care and contributing to the broader effort to tackle healthcare inequalities.

The call, which opened in July 2023, is a collaborative initiative that aims to tackle and de-bias scoring and stratification systems across three distinct clinical settings: maternity, sickle cell disease management, and elective care. It seamlessly aligns with the Core20PLUS5 strategy and other priority areas identified by NHS England and the NHS Race and Health Observatory.

The call for innovative solutions is a resolute effort to directly confront these inequalities head-on and drive forward solutions that have the potential to enhance everyday care for patients and healthcare staff, resulting in a better outcome within the NHS and broader healthcare ecosystems.

Professor Bola Owolabi, Director of the National Healthcare Inequalities Improvement Programme at NHS England remarks:

“I’m delighted that through this collaboration between the National Healthcare Inequalities Improvement Programme at NHS England, the NHS Innovation Accelerator and NHS Race and Health Observatory, we will be supporting innovative approaches to narrowing the health inequalities gap for our most marginalised communities. I’m clear that innovation, in products, approaches and interventions is a vital component of our multi-faceted effort to ensure equitable access, excellent experience and optimal outcomes; for all. These initiatives are further powerful signals of our determination to collaborate and innovate our way out of health inequalities and achieve our shared purpose. At NHS England, we remain loyal to the NHS Constitution and our Long-Term Plan commitments to accelerate action to reduce health inequalities and this collaboration is another key milestone in our endeavour.”

Dr Habib Naqvi, chief executive, NHS Race and Health Observatory says:

“Improving the lives of sickle cell patients through improvements in healthcare experience and outcomes is our key priority. We look forward to this excellent partnership with C2-Ai and the Sickle Cell Society to deliver an array of effective, bespoke solutions leading to better care outcomes for children, young people and adults affected by this disease. Too often, people with sickle cell disease are subject to hospital experiences that can cause avoidable harm. Additional investment and data-driven innovations focusing on improving the care and treatment for people suffering with sickle cell disease are long-overdue – this is a great step forward.”

Konrad Dobschuetz, National Director of the NHS Innovation Accelerator, expressed his enthusiasm for the collaboration, highlighting the NIA’s pivotal role:

“We are proud to champion these ground-breaking healthcare solutions addressing the critical issue of healthcare inequalities. The dedication shown by both C2-Ai and Sickle Cell Society is a testament to their role as catalysts for transformative change in healthcare. The NHS Innovation Accelerator, in collaboration with NHS England and RHO, is at the forefront of driving impactful innovations that aim to eliminate disparities and ensure equitable healthcare outcomes for all.”

About C2-Ai

Utilising over three decades of thorough research, C2-Ai has developed and rigorously tested state-of-the-art clinical Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions. Working extensively in Elective recovery, patient safety and maternity outcomes improvement, these ground-breaking systems have been verified to have a tangible impact on hospitals and healthcare systems worldwide, resulting in a reduction in avoidable harm, mortality rates, and overall expenses. By customising risk assessment for each patient, C2-Ai empowers hospitals to uncover up to 90% more potential harm than traditional methods. The system leverages ethnicity, SDoH, and deprivation data alongside hospital clinical data to construct an intricate, patient-specific clinical risk assessment and anticipated outcome score. It scrutinises the patient’s comorbidities and planned surgery, assessing up to 9×10453 criteria to create a thorough and personalised evaluation of each patient’s clinical needs. This enables the patient’s individual clinical needs and risks to be scored with a high degree of precision that validates each patient’s situation and supports the surgeon’s decision to prioritise & treat. Moreover, C2-Ai’s system includes a clinical performance Observatory that interconnects a patient’s referral risk, treatment, and the impact of Core20PLUS5 factors with observed outcomes. This enables a comprehensive evaluation of every Trust’s clinical performance in the ICS region, providing patient-centric data on outcomes tied to Core20PLUS5 factors to address underlying inequities.

Steve Barnett, Director of NHS engagement at C2-Ai, ardently articulates their mission:

“We aspire to establish the international benchmark for improving healthcare quality, reducing disparities, and achieving cost-efficiency in hospitals worldwide. C2-Ai envisions a future where precision medicine becomes the standard, providing hospitals with AI systems for real-time, individualised risk assessment and care. Being part of this collaboration signifies our dedication to working hand-in-hand with NHS England and the NHS Race and Health Observatory to combat healthcare inequalities, striving for a future where healthcare quality is paramount, and disparities are minimised.”

About Sickle Cell Society

Sickle Cell Society stands as the sole national charity in the UK dedicated to supporting and advocating for individuals affected by sickle cell disorders with the aim of enhancing their overall quality of life. The Society has cultivated a dynamic partnership with healthcare professionals, parents, and individuals living with sickle cell to raise awareness about this condition. Their mission is to provide unwavering support to those living with sickle cell, empowering them to realise their full potential. The Sickle Cell Children and Young People’s (CYP) Mentoring Programme is aimed at supporting CYP to proactively manage their condition, improve self-care, build awareness and knowledge around sickle cell and overall reduce dependency on hospital care. The model is a non-clinical social model of care with the main objective of supporting and educating CYP living with sickle cell and promoting positive changes in relation to overall management of the condition. An encouraging 80% of the first cohort of mentees in the 2017/18 pilot had a positive out of hospital trajectory post mentoring.

John James, CEO of the Sickle Cell Society, emphasises their vision, stating:

“We firmly believe that everyone living with sickle cell deserves access to high-quality care. Achieving this goal necessitates funding for the education of healthcare providers and other professionals on the intricacies of this condition, and at the Sickle Cell Society we are steadfast in our commitment to make this a reality. Working alongside NHS England and the NHS Race and Health Observatory is a testament to our commitment to address healthcare inequalities and ensure equitable care for individuals with sickle cell disorders.”