Wellmind Health has been shortlisted in the Scottish Government's CivTech Round 11:4 Challenge, 'How can innovation and technology improve things for people with long term health conditions starting with Musculoskeletal conditions, so they can engage with life and work as fully as possible?''.
The team travelled to Edinburgh this month for the launch of the Exploration Stage, a 3-week intensive process that enables shortlisted companies to refine proposed solutions alongside Challenge Sponsors.
CivTech is a Scottish Government programme that brings the public, private and third sectors together to work hand-in-hand with them to create solutions that make people's lives better. CivTech Round 11 launches with £5.5 million of contract opportunities aimed at solving some of the difficult problems faced in Scotland.
Musculoskeletal (MSK) issues such as back pain and arthritis are among the most common long-term health conditions developed by people in Scotland. The key questions posed by the Challenge 11:4 include:
- How can the risk of Musculoskeletal conditions be identified early to enable action that helps prevent conditions worsening?
- How can we support individuals to self-manage Musculoskeletal conditions and confidently prepare for return-to-work at their own pace?
- How can employers and health professionals coordinate personalised support without overburdening existing systems?
- How do we identify the best timing and approach for a phased, successful return to work and track what works?
Addressing these questions will contribute to reducing economic inactivity as well as help tackle health inequality and support Scotland's fair work agenda. The challenge has a national importance and supports a "whole system" response, to reduce health inequalities and targeting support to those most in need. Wellmind Health's proposal for integrating health, employment and welfare support and providing personalised pathways with continuous impact measurement saw the company shortlisted for the Exploration stage of this CivTech Challenge.
Our thanks to the organisers and our Challenge Sponsors for this productive stage. Individuals with MSK conditions often navigate disjointed systems across healthcare, social care, employability services and in the workplace, often without support from services that may be overburdened. For people experiencing these conditions in the workplace many employers lack access to occupational health services, and where these do exist, the support services may be underutilised. We are excited to have this opportunity to build on our work addressing these issues in the forward-thinking and impactful CivTech Challenge.
