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ANIA Frequently Asked Questions

If I have an idea/innovation what do I do and who do I tell? 

NHS staff 

If you work in the NHS, there are 2 phases in relation to innovation. 

Early stage innovation  

  • Explore these innovations through your regional testbed: 
  • InnoScot Health (formerly Scottish Health Innovations Ltd) also supports NHS staff with innovative ideas. Ideas can be submitted online via www.innoscot.com. Advice on intellectual property, funding, medical device regulation and commercialisation is available.  

Innovation that fulfils ANIA criteria 

Suppliers

If you are a supplier, we suggest the following routes: 

  • Engagement with the Scottish Health Industry Partnership and NHS Scotland Test Beds.  
  • Submission via the Scotland Innovates portal. 
  • Identification of an NHS Sponsor who believes your innovation has significant transformation potential and should be considered for scaling via ANIA. 

How will ANIA innovations be spread into NHS Boards?

The ANIA Pathway is the mechanism for adoption of innovation for a small number of high impact innovations.  

The ANIA Collaborative ensure a value case for investment is presented to the CfSD Strategy Board and the Care and Wellbeing Portfolio.  

The Value Case will detail how the implementation phase for adoption of innovations will be undertaken and will clearly describe: 

  • Commercial strategy (procurement). 
  • Training and workforce requirements for adoption. 
  • Target operating model and associated national clinical pathway. 
  • The cost of change, including clinical, eHealth and administration implications. 
  • Central support available to support Boards with adoption (project management, templates such as nationally completed EQIA for local tailoring, and clinical leadership).  

Once a Value Case is approved, the innovation will be added to the CfSD Heat Map - which is the mechanism CfSD utilises to deliver the adoption of improvement and innovation initiatives.  

This provides the basis for a joint plan with each NHS Board to incorporate this into local delivery planning. CfSD Specialty Delivery Groups are engaged throughout the process to ensure it is considered as an investment that solves a clinical problem.  

They will also work with NHS Boards to optimise patient and service benefits.  

What happens if I have a better idea/way of doing things than the proposed innovation/redesign? 

Each Health Board is engaged through the development of an innovation Value Case through the Specialty Delivery Groups. This is the forum to consider whether your idea may be better than the innovation currently being considered. 

You can discuss your ideas and concerns with the CfSD Innovation Team who will connect you with your local rep and if considered beneficial, the relevant Specialty Delivery Group to explore your concept further.  

What do we mean by innovation for ANIA? 

ANIA focuses on adoption of a small number of high impact, proven technological healthcare innovations. This includes digital, medtech and diagnostics. Whilst service innovation does form a component of the work as part of pathway redesign, there will always be a technological component for adoption. This means service and workforce innovations not supported by an innovative technology are not currently in scope. 

Innovations should be at a stage of mid/late stage market readiness to be considered for ANIA. They should not be at an early stage of development in R&D with a limited evidence base.  

In addition, ANIA is for innovations which will have significant transformational potential across the five CfSD Value Domains as follows: 

  • Improved patient outcomes 
  • Improved patient experience 
  • Improved staff experience 
  • Improved environmental sustainability 
  • Improved productivity  

The innovation should also only have been piloted or adopted in less than three Health Boards before entering ANIA but identified as having significant potential benefit. This could mean improved life expectancy, faster diagnosis, improved quality of life, reduction in waiting times, increasing service capacity or reduction in health miles travelled.