Blogs

Well, yes and no....

10 million of us live in areas that are considered “rural” – which can be defined as a small village, an open countryside, a coastal community, former mining areas or commuter villages on the edge of towns and cities.

Living in the rural idyll that it is all peace and quiet, can draw envious assumptions and observations that suggest affluence and good health but it is not without its challenges. A 2017 Local Government Association report titled ‘Health and wellbeing in rural areas’ suggests that the high-level statistics that lend support to these assumptions mask the pockets of deprivation and poor health outcomes that exist in most rural communities.

A key part of the vision for a tech driven NHS launched by Matt Hancock (Secretary of State for Health and Care), is a standards based approach to enable and support the changes required to deliver the vision.
NHS Digital have wasted no time and have launched the ‘NHS digital, data and technology standards framework’.

The framework has been designated as ‘Beta’ and is out for open consultation which will conclude this calendar year. Is this pace a signal of the level of intent to make progress in what has been historically a very tricky area for the NHS?

On October 17th 2018, the Secretary of State for Health, Matt Hancock, launched 'The Future of Healthcare - our vision for digital, data and technology in healthcare'. This sets the vision for how modern technology can be used to provide digital services that meet the needs of the health and care workforce and the people who are users of care services.

Since then most of the focus has been around the technology architecture standards that will be developed and mandated to support the vision and the impact this might have on existing suppliers.

England’s 15 Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) were set up by the NHS in 2013 to drive the uptake of health innovation and support economic growth.

We were relicensed this year to operate as the key innovation arm of the NHS, and one of the main ways we do this is by creating the conditions for collaboration between the NHS and industry.

The UK is home to some of the world’s best MedTech and digital entrepreneurs and the AHSNs are helping unlock the game-changing potential of innovation to transform health services – improving patient outcomes, driving down the cost of care and generating economic growth and investment.

With this in mind, we operate a wide range of initiatives to support SMEs - and one of these is our new Digital Health Accelerator programme.

In my preparation to organise events designed to spread some evidence-based ideas that affect safety culture in a positive way, themes such as:

EMAHSN recognises the value of its own medicines optimisation programme, and nationally, as it became part of the deliverables for the second five year licence period from May 2018. I was delighted to be part of the recruitment panel to select a Pharmacist to lead and work collaboratively with the 14 other Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs), to develop, share and spread good practice in medicines optimisation. 
So what is Medicines Optimisation and why should we be interested in it?

If the recent Medilink East Midlands Innovation day and Awards are anything to go by then life sciences in the East Midlands is thriving! Life sciences champion the use of research, innovation, and technology. Medilink East Midlands Innovation day is in its 14th year and it continues to grow and evolve attracting more than 250 delegates.

Many of us will have seen these disturbing headlines in the media today (23 February 2018). A study published today by researchers from Manchester, Sheffield and York Universities estimates that up to 1 in 5 prescriptions ends in the wrong drug being given to a patient, that’s equivalent to 237million errors a year. This is shocking but there is hope, The AHSN network and EMAHSN have been working on innovations that help reduce the number of errors being made in the prescribing and dispensing processes.

Lucy Hose, Communication Manager, EMAHSN discusses using social media and other digital channels, especially if you are a leader.

I recently read NHS Employers Guide to Using Social Media in Leadership and it struck me that so many more senior leaders could "take to Twitter" or "leap to LinkedIn" to assist their organisations to communicate.

Chris Hart, Commercial Director, EMAHSN, emphasises the importance of a strong NHS business case and how a recently produced EMAHSN guide can assist in the preparation for an effective business case aimed at small and medium sized organisations.

When the NHS is interested in taking on board a new product or service it is likely that a NHS business case will need to be prepared and approved before the procurement of the project can proceed. From experience working alongside many organisations over the years we have recognised that organisations that supply the NHS are often challenged by the process and requirements.