The Volunteer Platform – WAHT Edition
The Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust (WAHT) Edition of the Volunteer Platform has been developed in partnership with Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust. The underlying volunteer platform has helped other NHS organisations gain additional workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic. The WAHT Edition developed this into clinical trial software and has been supported by MidTECH Innovations and the West Midlands Academic Health Science Network (WMAHSN).
The Volunteer Platform was initially developed to identify potential participants for COVID-19 vaccine trials however it was evident that this could be used for all research. To find potential participants for the trials, the platform was integrated with anonymised data from NHS real world cases, which developed its own vaccine registry. Working with the NHS data helped to build a digital registry of patients, that could potentially take part in the vaccine trials. WAHT provided clinical and operational guidance to the software design and development process for Being Guided to implement a bespoke digital solution for the NHS.
The system also manages workflow, signups, monitors data, web forms, and retains a participant record throughout the duration in a research study, with a view to it becoming customised research management software beyond anything else currently available. Being Guided has assisted the Trust to move away from Excel and to work with a web-based Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform.
Overall, Being Guided has helped to reduce costs, created an innovative way to organise the platform with the design of its infrastructure. It has also simplified processes, eliminating spreadsheets and paper.
How did MidTECH Help?
MidTECH Innovations helped with commercial discussions, negotiations, and contractual aspects of the project.
Following the initial meeting with Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, the MidTECH team undertook an initial assessment of the innovation. The MidTECH team investigated the intellectual property that was needed to move the project forward, the workability of the innovation and looked for routes to commercialise the project.
Medilink identified Being Guided as a potential co-development partner for the Trust. MidTECH worked with Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust and Being Guided to negotiate how they would work together. MidTECH ensured that Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust benefited from the intellectual property that they developed alongside Being Guided.
MidTECH also drafted NDAs, reviewed the collaboration agreement which strengthened the activity between Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust and Being Guided. In addition to this, the partners held discussions, under NDA, with the Clinical Research Network West Midlands for wider regional support.
Quotes:
Ian Smith from Being Guided – “Working with Emma Rowan and her team at Worcester Acute has been invaluable in our understanding at Being Guided of what works best for clinical trials with The Volunteer Platform.”
Emma Rowan from WAHT – “Working with Being Guided has challenged our thinking into being a more innovative and digitally-minded team, improving the quality of our service for patients and the NHS.”
Future Plan:
The Volunteer Platform is still under development. The innovators are actively seeking funding so that they can grow the platform further.
For more information on Being Guided:
Visit their website here: https://www.beingguided.com/
