A PIONEERING Bradford health invention breaking new ground nationally in the care of older people, has scooped a major award.

The prestigious Royal College of Physicians’ Patient Care Award has been presented to researchers at the Bradford Institute for Health Research (BIHR), based at Bradford Royal Infirmary and part of Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, for developing an electronic index which helps calculate an elderly person’s risk of disability, impairment, falls and complications of chronic diseases, as well as the rate their independence and capability gets less.

It has now become official NICE (The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) guidance and is available to 90 per cent of all GPs across the country to use.

The index helps GPs identify frail older people who face an increased risk of care home admission, hospitalisation and mortality by using information within a patient’s electronic health record.

The Bradford researchers were named winners of the innovation category, which recognises outstanding clinical activity that contributes to excellent patient care in an innovative and forward-thinking way for their development of the Bradford Electronic Frailty Index (eFI.)

Consultant Geriatrician Andy Clegg, along with colleagues Dr Tizzy Teale and Professor John Young, developed and refined the so-called eFI which started three years ago.

The index project has also involved a major collaboration between clinicians and academics at the University of Leeds, IT business TPP/SystmOne, the University of Birmingham, the University of Bradford and the Academic Health Science Network Improvement Academy also based at the Bradford Institute for Health Research.

Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Chief Executive, Professor Clive Kay said: “We have a fantastic programme of research and innovation at BTHFT and this is one such example of innovation, collaboration and service improvement for the benefit of our patients, at its very best.”

An innovative video-link pioneered by Bradford Teaching Hospitals to link up neo-natal tiny tots and their parents has also scooped honours at the Patient Experience Network National Awards.

The BabyView video link allows neonatal staff to send detailed and close-up images of infants directly to parents or relatives throughout the world so parents are then able to see baby on a PC screen, iPad, tablet or smartphone, just by accessing a secure web address on their internet browser or by downloading an app.