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Mobile Assistance for Groups Individuals within the Community - STROKE REHABILITATION

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - MAGIC (Mobile Assistance for Groups Individuals within the Community - STROKE REHABILITATION)

Okres sprawozdawczy: 2016-09-01 do 2020-10-31

The MAGIC pre-commercial procurement (PCP) challenge is to develop new, innovative technology based solutions that improve physical function & personal independence, within the first 6-months following the onset of stroke, measured by the Barthel index and the Modified Rankin Score. These solutions are not yet on the market, but can be developed and tested within the MAGIC PCP period of 2-4 years. It is specifically designed to address current deficits in care for people following a stroke to empower them to maximise their recovery potential through rehabilitation in the home environment, without the need for additional staff resources. Stroke is a condition caused by obstructed blood flow to the brain and it is the one of the largest causes of adult disability in the world. Every year it is estimated that approximately 15 million people world-wide suffer a stroke; of these, 5 million die and another 5 million are left permanently disabled, placing a burden on families and communities. Around 20% of stroke survivors are under the age of 65 and hence can be considered to be of working age. Timely access to rehabilitation is a key factor in the recovery for people who have survived a stroke. Therapy-based rehabilitation appears to improve independence in personal activities of daily living according to evidence based guidelines. The use of self-management approaches to help patients and carers better manage the life-changing impacts of stroke presents an opportunity to improve patient care in a cost effective way. It is important for potential solutions to be cost-effective in order to ensure they are accessible to the greatest possible number of service providers.
The MAGIC-PCP started work on the 01:01:17 with the ‘Kick-off’ event being held in Chieti, Italy during the week of 11:01:16. The inaugural meeting for each of the ‘project’s formal committees were undertaken; the Terms of References for each being agreed. In addition, the Project Execution Plan was agreed along with the clarification of roles and responsibilities, agreed deliverables, time line and the H2020 funded project MAGIC-PCP was shared with the local dignitaries and interested practitioners as Università degli Studi “Gabriele D’Annunzio” di Chieti-Pescara - Department of physical medicine and rehabilitation (UDA) hosted a large conference.
The project also had a clear schedule of deliverables to be achieved by month 8, albeit this timeline had to be compressed given our request to issue the PCP Call for Tender during month 8/ 9. All deliverables and milestones were achieved.
Within the context of all deliverables and milestones the most notable achievements are as follows:-
• The creation of the Project Execution Plan, establishment of project structure, constitution and governance of formal committees with associated Terms of Reference documents.
• The creation of a communication, engagement and dissemination plan along with the establishment of the Website http://magic-pcp.eu
• The comprehensive engagement with service users, carers and clinicians to understand in detail the needs to be addressed by potential R&D suppliers.
• Updated the State of the Art including early engagement with industry through group & face-to-face meetings and an on-line survey monkey questionnaire accessed through the project website.
• Agreed, as a buyers group the Brief for the MAGIC-PCP; the real shared need to be addressed was articulated.
• Issued a Prior information Notice (PIN) for a 2-month period (April and May) alerting the market to the start of an Open Market Consultation (OMC) which was planned to be delivered over a 2-month period (June and July)
• In line with documents produced by the Commission the Framework Agreement for the PCP and the entire suite of PCP documents were written and approval given by the Commission.
• Call for Tender has been issued with the close scheduled for 09:12:16
• All questions submitted by potential tenderers have been answered both individually and published for all and there is under two weeks to close of tender (3pm GMT 09:12:16).
• All 60 clinical assessors have been briefed and should be given access to the submissions that have passed through the eligibility and compliance checks by the 16:12:16 in order to keep the project on track. The Assessors will score the bids and the ranked bids compiled in order for the Buyers group to ratify the award of tender on 16:01:17.
In summary, the project management within the MAGIC-PCP has been very tight and the team is delighted to report that although there have been some hurdles to overcome on the way, the project remains on track with well over 130 downloads of the call for tender (CfT) taken by potential bidders. Ergo, our communication and dissemination plan has also worked as the response has been unprecedented and the MAGIC team are hopeful of a successful outcome to the CfT.
State of the Art Review and Industrial Engagement
In order to fully understand the range of technologies that are currently available or in development, the MAGIC consortium carried out industrial engagement events in March & April 2016 in preparation for the MAGIC PCP; 4 face-to-face events were held in Italy and Northern Ireland with more than 100 participants from supplier and academic institutions involved. In addition, an online survey was undertaken to complement the face-to-face consultation, receiving 113 responses from 6 countries. The outcomes from the industrial engagements have been used to inform the development of the scope for the MAGIC PCP. These were to extend the State of the Art knowledge and help formulate the thinking within the Buyers Group with regard to opportunities to find a solution to the shared problems associated with post stroke rehabilitation.

A pie chart illustrating the range of solutions suggested can be reviewed within the PCP Call for Tender which demonstrates of the 113 organisations responded to the ‘Survey Monkey’ on-line Questionnaire. 97 participants replied to the question ‘What new or innovative techniques could be applied to address the MAGIC Project challenge?’ with 80 organisations suggesting possible solutions. These suggestions were then classified into overarching technology types. The technologies suggested were classified within the following groups:- Telemedicine, Hardware Devices, Hospital information Systems, Telerehabilitation, Biomechanical Assessment, Bid Data Analysis, Virtual Reality, Wearable Detectors, Sensors, Apps, Gamification, Robotics and Video Technology.

The industrial engagement did not form part of the Open Market Consultation (OMC) or part of the tender process and organisational identifiers were not shared with consortium members.

Of these, many technologies have potential to provide a solution either by a single application or by combining technologies in novel ways. Although the MAGIC Consortium is particularly interested in virtual reality, augmented reality, apps, remote connection between therapist, patient & carer, technologies to empower patients within the rehabilitation process through self-care, gamification, remote vital sign monitoring (beyond standard tele-care and telehealth) & robotics, other technologies will be considered if these meet the challenge outlined within this PCP. In addition, Consortium bids would also be welcomed to enable the novel combination of innovative technologies.
MAGIC Buyers Group Kick-off meeting in Chieti Italy January 2016