On 23 March 2020, the Department of Health and Social Care (“DHSC”) issued a plea to technology companies to come up with digital support solutions for COVID-19.  The DHSC is making £500,000 available, with funding of up to £25,000 per company.  The challenge, named TechForce19, aims to increase community support for the elderly, vulnerable and self-isolating.

This will be of interest to any innovative companies able to develop and deploy technology in one of TechForce19’s three priority areas:

  1. remote social care;
  2. optimising staffing in care and volunteering sectors; and
  3. mental health.

The proposed digital solutions should aim to address community problems, not clinical problems, and should not require integration with NHS systems.  The technology may focus on, for example, delivery, recruitment and management of services to facilitate and ease pressure on one or more of the three priority areas during COVID-19.

TechForce19 has been launched by NHSx, the joint organisation for the digital transformation of the UK health and care system, which brings together the DHSC, NHS England and NHS Improvement.  PUBLIC, a GovTech venture firm, will manage TechForce19 for no profit.

Interested companies can apply here.

Please note that developing these digital support solutions will likely raise a myriad of regulatory, privacy and commercial issues.  Covington’s Digital Health team is here to provide support and would be happy to speak with any companies who wish to bring innovative and essential products to the market at this important time.

Photo of Sarah Cowlishaw Sarah Cowlishaw

Advising clients on a broad range of life sciences matters, Sarah Cowlishaw supports innovative pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device, diagnostic and technology companies on regulatory, compliance, transactional, and legislative matters.

Sarah is a partner in London and Dublin practicing in the areas of EU…

Advising clients on a broad range of life sciences matters, Sarah Cowlishaw supports innovative pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device, diagnostic and technology companies on regulatory, compliance, transactional, and legislative matters.

Sarah is a partner in London and Dublin practicing in the areas of EU, UK and Irish life sciences law. She has particular expertise in medical devices and diagnostics, and on advising on legal issues presented by digital health technologies, helping companies navigate regulatory frameworks while balancing challenges presented by the pace of technological change over legislative developments.

Sarah is a co-chair of Covington’s multidisciplinary Digital Health Initiative, which brings together the firm’s considerable resources across the broad array of legal, regulatory, commercial, and policy issues relating to the development and exploitation of digital health products and services.

Sarah regularly advises on:

  • obligations under the EU Medical Devices Regulation and In Vitro Diagnostics Medical Devices Regulation, including associated transition issues, and UK-specific considerations caused by Brexit;
  • medical device CE and UKCA marking, quality systems, device vigilance and rules governing clinical investigations and performance evaluations of medical devices and in vitro diagnostics;
  • borderline classification determinations for software medical devices;
  • legal issues presented by digital health technologies including artificial intelligence;
  • general regulatory matters for the pharma and device industry, including borderline determinations, adverse event and other reporting obligations, manufacturing controls, and labeling and promotion;
  • the full range of agreements that span the product life-cycle in the life sciences sector, including collaborations and other strategic agreements, clinical trial agreements, and manufacturing and supply agreements; and
  • regulatory and commercial due diligence for life sciences transactions.

Sarah has been recognized as one of the UK’s Rising Stars by Law.com (2021), which lists 25 up and coming female lawyers in the UK. She was named among the Hot 100 by The Lawyer (2020) and was included in the 50 Movers & Shakers in BioBusiness 2019 for advancing legal thinking for digital health.

Sarah is also Graduate Recruitment Partner for Covington’s London office.

Read more about Sarah Cowlishaw
Show more Show less