Healthy ageing centre in north east London announced as NHS Test Bed

Older people and carers in north east London are set to see the regeneration of health and social care as their region becomes a world-class site for innovation and excellence in healthy ageing.

Simon Stevens, Chief Executive of NHS England, this week announced that north east London will be placed at the forefront of innovative care as one of seven NHS Test Beds in the country.

Care City – a centre for healthy ageing innovation, research and education – will receive a £1.7m boost in funding to pioneer and evaluate new technologies to deliver measurable health improvements for the local population.

The centre, which officially launched in Barking earlier this week, was set up by NELFT and the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, and brings together health and social care organisations, along with UCLPartners, to work across the four London boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Redbridge and Waltham Forest.

Helen Oliver, Interim Managing Director of Care City, said: ‘We are delighted to have secured this funding from NHS England. It is a major milestone for Care City and reinforces our commitment to our community. By getting access to innovative solutions faster we hope to support people, and their carers, to live independently for as long as possible.’

Dr Charlie Davie, Managing Director of UCLPartners Academic Health Science Network, said: ‘The selection of CareCity to host an NHS England test bed site is an extremely important development for outer north east London in delivering the Five Year Forward View at pace and scale,’ said. ‘It has huge potential to benefit the health and wellbeing of this population.  Furthermore, by having the complete support of the three London Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) it will accelerate the introduction, shared learning and scaling up of innovation across London and beyond.’

UCLPartners has been involved with the development of Care City since inception. Jenny Shand, director at UCLPartners, is the Executive Lead of Care City and has worked with the partners to secure the Test Bed opportunity and ensure the rapid progress of the centre. The Care City Test Bed application received endorsements from all three London AHSNs: Health Innovation Network, Imperial College Health Partners and UCLPartners.

To find out more about Care City, visit: www.carecity.london or watch the video of the launch event.

Find out more about the NHS Test Beds on the NHS England website.