As part of a pivotal climate change partnership, Greener NHS will provide guidance and support on reducing environmental impacts among NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA) fellows.

Greener NHS believes that the partnership will help fellows to appreciate the NHS’ wider net zero objectives – especially the requirements of the ‘NHS supplier road map’.

In 2020, the NHS became the first health service in the world to make reaching carbon net zero a fundamental commitment – responding to the increasing threat to health posed by climate change.

In its Delivering a Net Zero NHS publication, the NHS pledged to be net zero by 2040 for directly controlled emissions and, critically, net zero by 2045 for emissions that the NHS has some influence upon.

There continues to be support for a greener NHS across the system, with 90% of staff backing the net zero ambition, while 80% have undertaken action in their professional lives – including saving energy, taking greener routes to work, recycling waste or more environmentally responsible prescribing.

Pete Waddingham, AHSN NetZero Lead, reflected: “Net Zero is a key driver for the AHSN Network to support innovators in their journey and help the NHS in their plan to become a net zero organization by 2040.”

Konrad Dobschuetz, National Director at NIA, explained: “Addressing the climate crisis is one of the key challenges of our time and healthcare has a significant role to play in helping to reduce carbon emissions. Our collaboration with Greener NHS will help us to provide our current and future fellows with the knowledge and support to contribute to the drive to reach net zero complementing their overall maturity journey.”

Nick Watts, Chief Sustainability Officer, NHS England, concluded: “Innovation is the vital energy that drives better health for our patients and communities while tackling climate change and saving the NHS money.”

Genedrive – a company focused on molecular diagnostics – has announced its participation in the Development and Validation of Technology for Time Critical Genomic Testing (DEVOTE).

Devote is a multi-partner grant award from the UK government Innovation Accelerator programme and Innovate UK. Further funding is anticipated to be made available for the implementation of the Genedrive CYP2C19 ID kit pharmacogenetic test. The kit is being developed to provide guidance at the point of care.

The DEVOTE grant will allow acute care patient access and a supporting infrastructure for Genedrive to assess the real-world clinical performance of time-critical clinical tests in NHS settings.

The programme is directed by the University of Manchester (UoM) and builds on the model of the previously successful partnership with Genedrive, which supported the development and evaluation of the company’s MT-RNR1 ID kit. Indeed, it has recently received a pivotal recommendation from NICE.

DEVOTE combines clinicians, health economists, informaticians and researchers in order to rapidly access new technologies. The Genedrive CYP2C19 ID kit is one of three projects to be included in the programme, while funding is expected to go directly to the UoM and its NHS partners to set up and coordinate the three projects.

David Budd, chief executive officer at Genedrive, explained: “DEVOTE is an amazing opportunity to engage formally with a health system like the NHS to demonstrate the effectiveness of a new diagnostic approach.”

He added: “Access to the Acute Medicine Unit in real time has considerable value to Genedrive as further funding would allow us to progress ongoing product development quickly and efficiently, and would support the pathway to clinical validation of our Genedrive CYP2C19 ID kit.”

Professor William Newman reflected on the partnership: “We look forward to working with Genedrive and our other DEVOTE programme colleagues in Manchester to develop a framework for time-critical pharmacogenetics, and to provide the framework for assessment of implementation of the Genedrive CYP2C19 ID Kit in emergency care.”