NHS Innovator Accelerator Guidance note - for completing the application form
Guidance note - for completing the application form Please read the Call for Applications before completing the application form. When completing your application form, please use plain language and answer each question in a concise manner. Please keep to any word limits given. Please specify the actual word count after each answer. Any information that exceeds the word limit may not be read. Please use diagrams, charts and tables where you believe they will help the assessor to understand your proposal. References and diagrams or charts are excluded from word limits. Application deadline: 12 noon, Friday 27 February, 2015. Please note, applications received after this time will not be read. If you have any questions, please contact: england.innovation@nhs.net
1. Contact information and Applicant details Q1. Title Please populate with a suitable title for your proposal. Q2. Lead applicant s name This should be a nominated representative of your innovation, who will be the named fellow and primary contact for the project. Q3. NHS Domains Please select one or more of the NHS England Domain(s) that your innovation supports. Q4. Speciality (if relevant) If your innovation is related to clinical practice, please select the clinical specialties for which your innovation is relevant. Please tick all that apply. If an appropriate speciality is not available, please describe your speciality in the other box. Q5. Innovation category Please select a category for your innovation. If an appropriate category is not available, please define your innovation in the other box. Q6. Position of lead applicant Please state the job title/s and roles held. Q7. Employing organisation/other Please state the name of the organisation you represent.
Q8. Postal address Please provide a postal address. This will be used for any correspondence relating to this application. Q9. Postcode Please state your postcode. Q10. Contact email Please provide a valid email address. Our assessors may contact you during the selection process if more information is required. Q11. Contact telephone number Please provide a daytime telephone number. Our assessors may contact you during the selection process if more information is required. 2. Screening questions Q1. Is there evidence to support the impact (or potential impact) of your innovation? Please refer to section 6.1 of the Call to Applications. Please select Yes or No Q.2. Are you able to contribute at least 2 days per week to developing your innovation in England. Applicants must have capacity and support from their employing organisation to deliver on the anticipated time commitment over the 12 months of the programme. Please refer to section 6.2 of the Call for Applications. Please select Yes or No
Q.3. Has your innovation gained approval from all necessary regulatory, intellectual property and ethical frameworks in your country? Please select Yes, No or N/A Q.4. Please attach your CV. Please upload your CV here. It must be at least one file. 3. Applicant form Please complete all 20 questions. Once you have completed a section of the form, click Save and move on to the next question. The form will only be submitted once you have completed all of the questions. When you have finished the questions, click on the Submit for review button at the top of the page. If you have any queries, please contact the NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA) team at england.innovation@nhs.net, quoting your application reference number. Applicant Details Innovation Q1. Provide the title of your innovation, followed by a brief summary (100 words max.) Please provide a short title for the proposed innovation (no more than 15 words). Then give a brief summary of your innovation. This should cover: Who will benefit from your innovation What impact it will have in terms of quality and cost Why it is innovative. Please avoid the use jargon and ensure your description can be understood by an assessor who does not have prior knowledge of the subject. Imagine the response will be used on a public website to describe your work. (Your answer should be no more than 100 words, excluding he project title.)
Q2. Detail the need or problem your innovation aims to address (300 words max.) Please give detailed evidence showing how you have identified the need or problem that your innovation will address. Explain the cause, nature and severity of the problem, as well as its impact on patients or patient care. You may refer to the significance of the health issue, condition or disease for patients, its symptoms and their impact on quality of life, its effect on mortality and its impact both locally and nationally. You may want to draw on information such as: population prevalence and incidence, cost to health services and wider society, and alignment of priorities with key stakeholder organisations. The case for addressing this problem needs to be convincing. It should be a significant quality issue that is widely relevant to health and healthcare in England, and your innovation must be widely applicable. For more information, please refer section 6.1 of the Call for Applications. Q3. Detail how your innovation relates to current NHS strategy and objectives (300 words max.) Please describe how your innovation (its aims and objectives) fits in with current NHS strategy for example, the Five Year Forward View and Outcomes Framework. Q4. Describe the health outcomes your innovation has delivered for patients, with details of the supporting evidence from pilots or trials conducted and any awards received. (600 words max.) Please give evidence of how your innovation has resulted in significantly improved quality outcomes. Applicants will want to show how their innovation has been developed with the extensive involvement of users, is supported by robust evidence and is ready to be scaled widely across the NHS. Please outline where and with whom the innovation has been tested, developed and implemented, and with what outcomes. Refer to publications, trials and case studies as appropriate. The evidence base for the intervention could come from a local, national or international setting, and from research or practice. It could involve small-scale improvement projects, feasibility studies or appropriate research evidence. For exceptional innovators and innovations, assessors will also consider innovations earlier in the developmental process. In this section, such applicants will want to provide a compelling case that the innovation has high potential to significantly improve quality and
significantly reduce cost, and that it is feasible to make progress with implementing the innovation in to practice within the first 12 months. For more information, please refer to section 6.1 of the Call for Applications. Q5. Describe the value for money your innovation delivers for the taxpayer, including details of pricing, cost effectiveness and affordability (600 words max.) Please outline the value of your innovation, with reference where possible - to the outcomes of previous pilots and/or trials and pricing. We are looking for evidence that you have explored in detail the cost of commissioning, implementing and utilising the innovation, and that your innovation has delivered (or will deliver) cost savings over a specified time period. Please detail where these savings accrue and how they were realised. We are seeking innovations that improve or maintain quality at the same or a lower cost. This cost-quality relationship must be evident not only at the level of the individual patient, but also across larger patient populations. For exceptional innovators and innovations, assessors will also consider innovations earlier in the developmental process. In this section, such applicants will want to provide a compelling case that the innovation has high potential to significantly improve quality and significantly reduce cost, and that it is feasible to make progress with implementing the innovation in to practice within the first 12 months. Q6. Detail any major competitors and outline how your innovation compares with current competition (300 words max.) Please outline any similar innovations either those currently available or in the pipeline that could be considered by users or commissioners as being in competition with your innovation. Please detail how your innovation compares to each competitor on a range of relevant criteria, including impact, pricing and so on. Applicant Q7. Why are you applying to participate in this programme? (200 words max.) Please detail why you are applying to the NIA programme, what your ambitions are for the project and how this scheme fits with your career aspirations.
Q8. Give details of your track record in delivering innovation into practice (300 words max.) An important part of our assessment will be how you demonstrate the experience and skills needed to deliver innovation into practice. As such, it is important to summarise how your track record will be relevant to delivering on the aims of the NIA programme. Q9. Using examples and evidence, describe how you meet the person specification as detailed in the Call for applications (600 words max.) Please provide evidence for each part of the person specification detailed in section 6.2 of the Call for applications, and the skills and experience listed in section 7.2. Q10. Summarise any learning needs you have relating to the diffusion of innovation and which you would seek the programme to address (300 words max.) There is no single solution to the diffusion of innovation, and as such we do not expect every applicant to have the full range of skills necessary to diffuse their innovation into practice. Applicants will be aware of their own areas for development. The information provided in this section will inform matching with mentors and the content of the learning programme. Q11. Detail exactly how much time you (and, if relevant, additional staff) will have to participate in the programme and how you will manage your existing commitments to enable your participation (200 words max.) It is essential that applicants are able to commit to the time required to participate in the learning programme and to deliver their innovation into practice into the NHS. Even where a fellow is applying as part of a team, the lead applicant will need to confirm adequate protected time to participate. For more information, please refer to sections 6.2 and 7 of the Call for Applications. Adoption: progress and ambition Q12. Detail the progress you have made to date in the adoption of your innovation. (600 words max.) Please give details of, for example:
Who has been engaged in the development and testing of your innovation Where the innovation is already being commissioned and used Pricing strategies Processes undertaken to ensure the innovation is ready for diffusion (for example, seeking regulatory approval). Q13. State your ambition and projections for the diffusion of your innovation, including intended users, adoption sites and geographical coverage (300 words max.) Please outline the potential adopters you are seeking to target, with reference to patient groups, population types, relevant conditions, organisations and geographies. Projections for your innovation will need to be supported by a rationale drawing on your understanding of the NHS and any traction your innovation has already achieved. If you propose to transfer the innovation to a different setting, please explain in detail why you think this is feasible. This must include the context for the original innovation, the conditions for success and an explanation of how these conditions exist or will be created in the proposed setting. Q14. Describe both the challenges and enabling factors your innovation faces with regard to achieving scale in the NHS (300 words max.) Please detail the challenges and enabling factors that apply to your innovation at all levels. Consider the innovation itself, the individuals and organisations who might adopt it, and the wider NHS system. You should state both challenges or enabling factors you have already encountered and those you envisage facing. Please also detail what information you have used to identify these enabling factors and challenges. Q15. Describe your strategy for diffusion in the NHS (300 words max.) Please detail the main approaches you plan to use within your diffusion strategy. Applicants will need to evidence a clearly defined ambition for diffusion and show they have sought relevant information to understand any enabling factors or barriers they may face. You should include details of: Work you have completed to date to engage and support potential adopters, users and commissioners, as well as assessing how successful this has been The experiences and evidence base you have drawn on to develop your diffusion strategy The stakeholders you have consulted to help shape your strategy (for example: patients, carers, clinicians, commissioners).
Q16. How could the success of your innovation be measured? (200 words max.) Outline your proposed measurement framework, including key metrics for example, extent of diffusion, improvement of patient outcomes, wealth creation. You should state the expected benefits of the innovation and explain how these will be measured. The link between the measurement and outcomes should be clear. Please provide a description of any existing baseline data and an explanation of why these are appropriate. Please also tell us what new baseline data you would aim to collect as part of your project. We will accept a range of evidence or types of data, as long as they are relevant to your aims and activities, are of high quality and together deliver a comprehensive, balanced and rigorous picture. Additional supporting information Q17. Provide names of all individuals and organisations jointly supporting this application and their specific role Please list the individuals and organisations that will be supporting your project, including the nature of their involvement over the 12 months of the programme, and the rationale for their involvement. Q18. Please use the upload button at the top right hand side of the application page to add any promotional material, business plans or articles that support your application (two uploads maximum).