Our Work

Photo credit: Rosie Powell: Embodied Realities at Dreamy Place Festival

In response to our report, The Growing Value of XR in Health Report (2020),  a new supportive ecosystem for UK innovators working on immersive digital mental health therapeutics is being launched.The UKRI Mindset XR Innovator Support Programme led by the Health Innovation Network (HIN) South London.

XRHA are playing a pivotal role in the delivery of the programme, supporting strategy and companies as they deploy XR mental health solutions across the country.

The full Mindset extended reality (XR) for digital mental health programme 2022- 2026 is a £20m investment which aims to treat more people with mental health needs by investing in Extended Reality (XR) and other immersive technologies; achieving transformation through the development and scale-up of emerging digital mental health therapies.

Through collaboration with experts across the UK, the HIN will deliver a programme of innovator support including:
- Creating a networking and information sharing platform for potential collaborators.
- Providing advice and expert support to existing and future competition applicants.
- Delivering a programme of outreach and engagement activities to cover the whole of the UK, including the devolved administrations.
-Facilitating knowledge sharing across a community of practice.Providing tailored support for larger scale industrial research projects and smaller feasibility projects.
- Delivering a learning package on a range of key topics.Driving the conditions for change through industry-wide and health system-wide roundtables.
- The collaboration brings together UK wide reach and a set of complementary skills – service user engagement, clinical research design, regulation and digital therapeutics – critical to address the challenge of bringing immersive tech to our population and staff.

As part of the Health Innovation Network, we will collaborate with networks across the country, including Health Innovation North West Coast, Health Innovation South West and Health Innovation North East and North Cumbria.

Alongside XRHA, key delivery partners include:

- Hardian Health
- Hill Dickinson LLP
- The Health Innovation Research Alliance Northern Ireland (HIRANI)
- King’s College London
-MQ Mental Health Research
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Photo Credit: Royal Free Hospital

The Royal Free Hospital Virtual Reality Strategy

‍n December 2021 a partnership between the XR Health Alliance (XRHA) and the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust (RFL)’s Innovation team was established following the publication of The Growing Value of XR in Healthcare Report, developed by XRHA, NHS England, Health Education England and UKRI. One of the core recommendations within the report was to support the development of an XR Centre of Excellence, which RFL Innovation took on as a challenge and began to explore what this might look like. 
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The core aims of the partnership were to:

  1. Co-develop of an NHS Royal Free Hospital XR strategy 
  2. Provide links to industry-leading experts and institutions, including sharing introductions and insights into international best practice 
  3. Provide support to access and locate future funding opportunities
  4. Advise on XR technology, both in terms of practical  deployment and technical guidance on different hardware and software 
  5. Strategic consultancy in terms of horizon scanning, potential industry partners and links to academia in the field
  6. Horizon scanning, potential industry partners and links to academia in the field.
  7. Support from a hospital lead liaison role to support the implementation of XR technology, across practical deployment of software and hardware recommendations, best practice and creating templates for staff.

The core delivered projects included:

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