HEALTH chiefs in Yorkshire are to receive £22m to develop innovative healthcare solutions.

The NHS has put aside £220m to encourage Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs) to devise cutting-edge solutions within the service.

Health Minister Lord Darzi announced the cash at the launch of the Innovation for a Healthier Future scheme which aims to create and reward innovation within the NHS.

England’s 10 SHAs including Yorkshire SHA will each receive £2m this year, and £5m in each of the following four years to support frontline NHS staff in developing innovative ideas.

The cash will be invested directly into projects at regional level, to decrease the time it takes for new solutions to get from the drawing board to the NHS bedside.

The scheme aims to increase the quality of the care patients receive.

‘Prizes’ of up to £20m will be awarded to help combat key health issues facing the region under the Innovation Challenge.

An example of innovation within Yorkshire is the trialing of ‘telemedicine’ in prisons whereby medical staff can make diagnoses through a video link without the need for inmates to visit hospitals.

Lord Darzi said: “NHS staff have told me that accessing the funds to make ideas become reality can be a struggle and as a result, many great ideas never get realised.

“We know that around 50% of the world’s inventions over the past 40 years originated in the UK and that the NHS is rightly recognised as a world leader in the development of innovative treatments and technologies – but we can be better at putting those good ideas into action and these funds will help do exactly that.”

Trevor Baylis, inventor of the wind up radio and one of this country’s top inventors, said: “Britain has an outstanding heritage in innovation, from the steam engine to the MRI scanner – we are a nation of innovators who are constantly looking for new, different and better ways of doing things.

“The Innovation Challenges Prizes are a fantastic opportunity to create and develop ideas that can genuinely change lives for the better.”