Blogs

How we are supporting health and care systems to address health inequalities

The Covid-19 pandemic shone a light on the health inequalities faced by our local communities – in how they can access services, in health outcomes and in life expectancy among many other factors.

Across the board, health and care systems are prioritising tackling health inequalities in our recovery from the pandemic.

In this blog, EMAHSN Managing Director Nicole McGlennon discusses how the AHSNs can support this agenda to ensure new innovations and transformation benefit all our communities.

Glen Howard heads up the newly launched EMAHSN Analytics and Evaluation Service, based in Nottingham. Here, he tells us about the specialist data expertise and support the team is providing for the health and care system and how you could access it.

Tell us about the Analytics and Evaluation Service (AES) – how did it come about?

The Analytics and Evaluation Service came about by expanding our existing expertise in analytics for innovation by adding evaluation expertise to the team.

The team already had extensive experience at working with data, within and with the health and care system, as well as with commercial innovators, to transform care for patients.

The East Midlands Digital Health Accelerator is designed to help companies with the adoption and spread of their digital technologies and innovations within the health and care sector. These companies have real potential to make a positive impact on our NHS.

As part of our programme members receive a tailored package of bespoke support and expert guidance. Support is adapted to the needs of the company depending on what stage they are at and includes one to one support, coaching, and masterclasses.

We are now half way through the programme for this year, in this blog Nick Hamilton who leads the EMDHA reflects on the programme highlights so far.

Theme: loneliness

“Loneliness is affecting more and more of us in the UK and has had a huge impact on our physical and mental health during the pandemic. That is why we have chosen it as our theme for Mental Health Awareness Week 2022. Our connection to other people and our community is fundamental to protecting our mental health so we must find better ways of tackling the epidemic of loneliness.

We can all play a part in this. The week is also an invaluable opportunity for people to talk about all aspects of mental health, with a focus on providing help and advice.” Mark Rowland, Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/ 

In this blog Michaela Thompson, EMAHSN Senior Improvement Lead and Freedom to Speak up Guardian for the organisation reflects on her personal experience to mark mental health awareness week.

This week is Patient Safety Awareness Week, an annual campaign from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). This well-respected world-wide initiative underpins much of the work we deliver through our Patient Safety Collaborative, to improve people’s safety when they use health and care services.

It seems obvious that we should all aspire to deliver safer care, but is not necessarily simple to achieve. Safety for staff and those who receive care is dependent on a number of factors including the use of clear, evidence-based practice and processes, as well as positive safety culture and learning environment.

Barriers can come from many places: misunderstood communication, unhelpful culture, or increasing demands on staff time, which reduce the time to learn and consider what could be improved.

Pronouns – They/Them

February marks LGBTQ+ history month, in support of this Dr Nat Thorne covers the importance of getting language right and the mental health impacts this can have on the trans community.

Nat spent 16 years as an LGBTQ journalist before completing a Masters in Psychology Research Methods at the University of Nottingham. Following this Nat then went on to complete a PhD which examined the role of language in the mental health of non-binary individuals.

Nat now works for the Nottingham Centre for Transgender Health as Education, Evaluation and Research Associate – as a result of this Nat runs educational workshops, works as a community liaison, and produces educational resources.

From my experience and learnings at the EMAHSN, I have learnt that there is no single approach to getting healthcare innovations spread in the NHS. It all depends on the complexity of the intervention, the system, culture, and circumstances of the environment in which it is to be implemented.

In my previous role where I was improving patient flow across the emergency and urgent care system, everyone knew that they needed to work differently yet the need to respond to daily demands, coupled with limited funding resources stopped people in their tracks.

East Midlands Patient Safety Collaborative delivers the NHS Mental Health National Patient Safety Improvement Programme, which aims to reduce the use of restrictive practice for in-patients of mental health services. You can find out more in our benchmarking report.

Mark Phillips, Trust-wide Professional Lead for Violence Reduction Training with Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, tells us about his role and the changes he has made to ensure strong governance around the content and delivery of training in restrictive interventions.

EMAHSN offers a range of programmes and initiatives to support commercial innovators and healthcare staff. This involves supporting them along their journey from having a great idea to successfully launching and spreading their healthcare solution. Through the expert support offered we bridge the gap between the NHS and industry for patient benefit.

As part of this, we have recently launched an Innovation Academy – a dedicated free programme designed for those who would like to gain an understanding of how the NHS takes on new products or services.

In this blog, Julian Patel, EMAHSN's Commercial Manager, covers the launch of the Academy and the wealth of EMAHSN support currently offered to health innovators.

Since March 2020, Academic Health Science Networks have supported the rollout of an evidence-based Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) programme called Focus ADHD.

Working closely with mental health trusts and community paediatric services, the programme seeks to improve the ADHD assessment offer for children and young people. In the first year of the national programme, nearly 10,000 patients have benefitted across 46 hospital trusts in 2020/21.

ADHD is a treatable disorder and affects approximately 3-5% of children and young people (ONS CYP prevalence survey 2017). If undiagnosed and/or untreated ADHD can have a significant impact on personal development.