Aquarius Population Health has been awarded an 18-month Innovate UK grant totalling £2m to develop evidence to support the adoption of a new rapid diagnostic test for sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
Working in collaboration with Atlas Genetics and the Applied Diagnostic Research and Evaluation Unit at St George’s University of London; they will develop evidence for health services to support the introduction of the new, 30-minute test that can diagnose multiple infections including chlamydia and gonorrhoea – infections that could take up to a week to diagnose using current laboratory testing systems.
Dr Mike Harvey and Dr Susie Huntington from Aquarius Population Health will be leading the work, mapping patient pathways within sexual health clinics and building a digital value proposition tool.
Understanding the patient pathway facilitates thinking about new and better ways of delivering care and optimising resources for clinics.
The digital value proposition tool will enable UK-based sexual health services to anticipate the potential benefits, costs and cost-effectiveness of adopting the new test. It will also quantify the impact on patients, sexual health services and on public health more broadly.
Dr Elisabeth Adams, managing director of Aquarius Population Health, said: “We are very excited to collaborate on this Innovate UK funded project.
“We’re convinced that our innovative digital value proposition tool will help sexual health clinics in their commissioning and adoption of this new technology.”
Dr John Clarkson, chief executive Atlas Genetics, added: “We are delighted to have been selected for this substantial follow-on contract.
“The work being done by this collaboration will enable us to better understand how best to integrate our io system into UK sexual health clinical practice.
Innovate UK’s commitment to introducing new, pioneering approaches to healthcare validates both our technology and our leading role in molecular diagnostics.”
