Janssen backs NHS diabetes challenge

Janssen has partnered with NHS England to support the spread of innovation in diabetes across the UK.

The NHS Innovation Challenge Prize will provide a total of £650,000 to projects working in across a variety of therapy areas in order to drive the adoption of innovative ways of preventing, treating and managing diseases.

Janssen will contribute £200,000 of this funding, with this share to be split between two separate challenges related to specific areas of diabetes care.

The first of these challenges is focused on the enhancing quality of life for people through care centred on the needs of the individual. According to Janssen, this links to NHS England's commitment to the 'House of Care' model for long-term conditions.

The second challenge seeks innovative solutions to help improve health outcomes amongst black and minority ethnic (BME) communities. New ways of supporting this population are necessary as the prevalence of diabetes is up to six times greater than the UK's white population.

“We're proud to once again partner with NHS England on the NHS Innovation Challenge Prizes,” commented Mark Hicken, managing director of Janssen, UK & Ireland.

“Through the NHS Innovation Challenge Prizes, we aim to help inspire and seed innovation, empower healthcare consumers and modernise healthcare delivery to provide better, more holistic care at a lower cost to society.”

In addition to the prize money Janssen is also offering a mentoring programme for the winners to secure the long-term sustainability of their projects.

Entry is open until November 7 and NHS teams can apply at www.england.nhs.uk/challengeprizes.

Other similar programmes working to spread NHS innovation in diabetes care include the Quality in Care (QiC) Diabetes programme.

Developed by PMGroup and supported by Sanofi, QiC Diabetes has so far recognised more than 100 projects working in diabetes and the next awards are due to take place on October 16. See the finalists for QiC Diabetes 2014.