NHS England has announced eight new health innovations that will join a scheme designed support and accelerate the adoption of promising new treatments and technologies.

The NHS Innovation Accelerator programme was launched in July 2015 with the over-riding goal of creating the conditions and culture changes necessary to accelerate adoption of cutting-edge solutions and thus boost patient care.

In the first year of the programme, 17 innovations - including a national service matching people interested in participating in dementia research with suitable studies and a whole hospital digital platform enabling doctors and nurses to carry out patient observations, handovers and clinical assessments electronically - were rolled out to 380 NHS organisations, benefiting millions of NHS patients.

NHS England says each of the innovations chosen for the second round of the scheme are evidence-based and cost-saving, with a focus on providing solutions to key challenges including better prevention of ill health, improved management of long-term conditions and early intervention into diseases.

The eight new products are:

▪ Sore Throat Test and Treat, a walk-in community pharmacy service where patients are tested to determine whether or not they need antibiotics;

▪ EpSMon, an epilepsy self-management tool which enables patients to monitor their well-being and know when to seek medical support;

▪ Serenity Integrated Mentoring (SIM), a collaborative model of care that sees a specialist, trained police officer working within community mental health teams to better mentor, encourage and support some of the most challenging service users;

▪ DrDoctor, an online and text based service that allows patients to confirm, cancel, and change bookings digitally;

▪ OBH Outcomes Platform, which enables commissioners and providers to identify baselines for their selected outcomes, set improvement trajectories and monitor outcomes specific to their local populations on an on-going monthly basis;

▪ Coordinate my care, a web-based IT platform enabling digital, multidisciplinary urgent care planning for end of life care;

▪ ArtemusICS, a data driven population health intelligence platform, which supports community teams to identify and keep patients out of hospital through earlier detection and intervention; and

▪ Enhanced Recovery After Surgery + (ERAS+), which works to reduce the risk of post-operative pulmonary complication by better equipping patients and families in their preparation for and recovery from major surgery.

"With rising demand and escalating costs, innovation is not an option but a necessity if we are to build a sustainable NHS," said NHS England's National Medical Director. "The innovations selected for this programme have the potential to deliver better value for the taxpayer whilst making patient interactions with the NHS safer and more personal."

The programme is led by NHS England and delivered in partnership with the country's 15 Academic Health Science Networks and UCL Partners.