Chelsea and Westminster to focus on health tech for children

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has partnered with KidsX Accelerator to develop health tech specifically targeted at the needs of paediatric patients and their families.

LA-based KidsX Accelerator will work with the CW Innovation programme, led by the trust and its charity CW+ in a bid to help fill the unmet need of deploying digital health technologies in paediatric care.

The pair will work with early-stage digital health companies to codevelop and test innovative solutions for children.

Chris Chaney, chief executive of CW+, said: “We are excited to work with KidsX Accelerator as part of our expanding CW Innovation programme, which introduces new innovations that improve patient care, patient experience and operational efficiency.

“We have fast-tracked a raft of new technologies and innovations over the course of the last year, with KidsX we are looking to grow our portfolio of ‘test and scale’ projects to ensure we’re meeting the specific needs of our paediatric patients too.”

The KidsX Accelerator is a 13-week virtual program with 40 paediatric departments and hospitals across the world. Early-stage technology companies are introduced to the relevant paediatric departments and hospital decision makers to develop and test their product in a real-world clinical setting.

The entrepreneurs are given help and advice from the hospital teams to build and launch innovations that meet the unique needs of paediatric patients and their families.

Omkar Kulkarni, managing director of KidsX, added: “As an emerging leader in healthcare innovation in the UK, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is an ideal member.

“Innovation in paediatric health has not advanced at the rate it has in adult healthcare. It’s our aim to address this together; children’s needs are different to those of adults, and we aim to help entrepreneurs develop solutions that suit the pressing needs of paediatric patients and their families.”