NHS Blood and Transplant partners with Kortical to deliver innovative project
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is partnering with Kortical to deliver an innovative demand planning platform for the management of the complex blood supply chain.
Creating Artificial Intelligence (AI), powered by The Kore, this will ensure that patients receive the right blood products when they need them and optimise the entire logistics chain from donor to patient.
Innovate UK have awarded a £750,000 grant for this project to help fund the development of the solution and to accelerate the use of this cutting-edge technology in the UK.
Successfully responding to the financial, social and operational challenges the healthcare sector faces, requires innovative use of data. Donated blood is a valuable, short shelf-life product that is essential to the global delivery of patient care. The management of the blood supply chain has many factors to consider, which when combined run in the millions of variables and as such it represents an excellent model on which to develop advanced healthcare supply chain tools.
This project will use the supply of platelets in England as a test system to develop an artificial intelligence / machine learning based demand planning solution. Working with NHSBT, who provide the blood service in England, Kortical will create a scalable AI demand planning solution which will deploy its automated machine learning platform, The Kore, to deliver advanced demand planning and benchmarking tools. These will enable the NHS to better manage its complex blood supply chain as well as leading to improved outcomes for patients who require a blood transfusion.
Gail Miflin, Medical and Research Director at NHSBT said:
“Blood is a precious resource and a vital part of treatment for many patients. Improvements to the supply chain will help to ensure that these blood components are available at the right time and in the right place and reduce potential wastage.”
Aaron Powell, NHSBT’s Chief Digital Officer said, ‘At NHSBT we strive to be leaders in innovation ensuring that patients are receiving the best care that modern technology can provide. As such we are proud to partner with Kortical and their platform The Kore to implement cutting edge AI tools to benefit patient care.’ (Chief Digital Officer - NHSBT)
The application of this technology in other global regions as well in the UK with complex supply chains like fresh goods, means that impact of this project will be far reaching beyond blood supply and will put the UK further on the map as being one of the most innovative countries in the world.