Sanome Expands NHS Rollout of AI Infection Detection Platform with Innovate UK £300k

Sanome is accelerating the NHS deployment of its AI-powered infection detection platform following two new hospital partnerships and the award of an Innovate UK SMART grant worth over £300,000. Part of the national innovation funding programme, SMART grants provide financial support for feasibility studies, industrial research or experimental development projects, typically backing early- to mid-stage R&D that has strong market potential and clear economic or societal benefit.

The UK healthtech company’s platform, MEMORI, became the country’s first multimodal Class IIb CE-marked AI Software as a Medical Device for infection prediction last year. Designed to detect hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) sooner than standard practice, MEMORI analyses real-time patient data and integrates directly into electronic patient record (EPR) systems, bringing predictive insight into clinicians’ existing workflows.

The current state of the NHS

Although there is now very definitely light at the end of the tunnel, the winter of 2025 to 2026 has again tested NHS capacity. Delayed discharges have placed sustained strain on hospital flow, with the proportion of bed days occupied by patients medically fit for discharge rising from 10.1% in 2024 to 11% in 2025. That 9% increase equates to approximately 19,000 additional bed days, further limiting available capacity during peak seasonal demand.

Reduced bed availability has a direct knock-on effect across urgent and emergency care, contributing to congestion in emergency departments and longer waits during periods of heightened activity.

Yet the picture is not solely one of pressure. Despite battling what has been described as the busiest winter on record, NHS England recently reported that the elective care waiting list has fallen to its lowest level in nearly three years. The data signals steady progress in recovery efforts even as operational challenges persist.

This dual reality, persistent system strain alongside measurable improvement, underscores the importance of tools that can prevent avoidable deterioration. Earlier identification of infection risk has the potential to shorten hospital stays, reduce complications, and ease pressure on constrained bed capacity. 

Furthermore, HAIs remain one of the most serious and costly challenges facing the NHS, contributing to over seven million additional patient bed days and £2.7 billion in annual care costs. Early detection is critical for preventing deterioration, easing clinical pressures, and improving patient outcomes.

Two hospital partnerships extend national footprint

Against this backdrop, Sanome has confirmed new partnerships with the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability and East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust.

Back in December 2025, the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability became the first specialist neuro facility to embed MEMORI into routine care, first integrating with the PatientSource EPR to cover four wards. Patients with complex neurological conditions are among the most vulnerable to infection-related complications; more than six in ten intensive care patients contract at least one hospital-acquired infection during their stay.

East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, one of England’s largest acute trusts, will also deploy MEMORI within its EPR infrastructure. The collaboration is intended to establish a scalable model for secure, real-time NHS data access across multiple hospital sites.

Hospital-acquired infections (such as pneumonia, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Clostridium difficile (C. difficile)) remain a major clinical and financial burden, accounting for more than 7.1 million excess bed days and an estimated £2.7 billion in annual costs. Research indicates that between 35% and 55% of infections may be preventable with earlier detection and intervention.

MEMORI uses explainable clinical AI to identify emerging infection risk from multimodal data streams. Early studies associated with the certified product have shown the potential to surface life-threatening infection predictions up to three days earlier than standard practice. Preliminary data also indicate it outperforms the NHS-standard National Early Warning Score (NEWS2) system in detecting deterioration.

Beyond rollout at the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability and East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, additional NHS deployments are planned throughout 2026 with initial data suggesting MEMORI outperforms the NHS-standard National Early Warning Score (NEWS2) system in detecting deterioration.

Innovate UK funding supports next-generation development

Alongside the hospital rollouts, Sanome has secured an Innovate UK SMART grant in collaboration with the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Sustainable Innovation to advance MEMORI’s next phase of development (termed MEMORI v2).

The 18-month programme will support enhancements to the platform, including integration of additional multimodal data inputs such as laboratory results, prescriptions and clinical notes. It will also focus on further scalable EPR integration, improved explainability, and optimisation of machine-learning performance.

The project aims to increase predictability by a further 20%, extending the window for early intervention and ultimately increasing the chance of saving lives. MEMORI alerts clinical teams up to seven days before signs of infection, creating additional time to act before symptoms escalate.

MEMORI v2 will undergo large-scale live validation across multiple wards at Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, targeting one of the NHS’s most persistent patient safety challenges.

“Our mission is to prevent deterioration before it becomes life-threatening. MEMORI shows how real-world NHS data, when safely and securely unlocked, can be transformed into actionable bedside insights that change outcomes using the power of multimodal AI. Working with the Exeter HealthTech Research Centre, with support from Innovate UK, allows us to demonstrate both the clinical and system-wide benefits of AI in one of the UK’s leading NHS Trusts,” said von Thüngen.

Dr Nick Kennedy, Digital Innovation and AI Theme Lead at the NIHR HRC in Sustainable Innovation and Consultant Gastroenterologist at the Royal Devon, added: “Hospital-acquired infections remain one of the biggest threats to patient safety, particularly for vulnerable patients with complex conditions. That means early intervention is vital. By co-designing MEMORI with the support of Innovate UK, we are proud to be among the first to test such technology and show how AI can support clinicians, transform patient care and ultimately save lives.”

Chris Sawyer, Innovation Lead Digital Health, Innovate UK added:

The first impact data from the large-scale deployment is expected later in 2026, alongside further rollout across NHS and healthcare organisations in the UK. 

As NHS leaders continue to balance recovery targets with sustained operational pressure, technologies that promise to prevent avoidable deterioration are likely to attract growing interest. Now embedded in routine care at the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability, and going live in NHS settings including East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust and Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust in the coming months, each new deployment will contribute to a growing body of real-world outcome data. Building on encouraging early findings, this next phase will generate the robust evidence needed to further validate clinical impact, refine integration across diverse NHS environments, and demonstrate system-wide cost-effectiveness. Frontline staff experience will remain central to that process, ensuring MEMORI continues to support clinical judgement, reduce cognitive burden, and enhance rather than disrupt the workflows of the teams it is designed to serve.