THE University of Bradford will become a "hub" where high tech medical and health care technology will be developed, and where medical staff and patients are able to create their own programmes.

The university is the first higher education institution in the country to be awarded NHS England Code4Health community status, meaning it will be at the forefront of developing technologies such as health care apps for mobile phones and tablets.

The title has been awarded to the University because of its role in creating a "community" of academics, clinicians, developers, suppliers and patients who can work together develop, test, and fine tune such technologies before they make their way to the healthcare market.

As well as create a health care workforce more able to adapt to new technologies, the designation means that front line health staff and patients will have a major role in creating programmes that could soon become common in hospitals and doctors' surgeries.

It follows a series of pilot courses hosted by the university's Faculty of Life Sciences that brought together academics, clinicians and software developers to create clinical decision-making apps.

The new "community" will now work towards developing and evaluating e-health solutions, such as healthcare apps to make services easier to access. The systems developed could lead to major changes in the way technology is used in fields like nursing, dental care and medicine.

In the past few years, there has been an increased focus in schools on teaching coding, which helps create computer programmes, at a younger age.

The Code4Health status means the University will work to support coding in the national curriculum by offering the use of the university's science, technology, engineering and maths facilities.

Last year a new technology laboratory opened at the University as part of its push to improve the technology courses it offers.

New courses offered at the university, including a healthcare informatics Master’s programme, will strengthen links with healthcare institutions and industries as part of this programme.

Code4Health was set up by NHS England in March to look at ways of using technology to provide efficient and compassionate health care.

Dr Samar Betmouni, director of clinical pathology at the University’s Faculty of Life Sciences, said: “This is a very exciting development for the University.

"We have already had several enquiries about our community, ranging from secondary education to primary and secondary care, with plans to work with partners to establish this as a forum for digital healthcare innovations. I look forward to working with a broad range of partners to expand our community and achieve our objectives."