Blogs

The East Midlands Digital Health Accelerator is a support programme for a small number of Digital Health innovators who we believe have an exciting and worthwhile innovation that can make a real difference to our health and care system.

We selected three companies for our 2019-20 cohort who over the next year will receive support from EMAHSN experts to support the development of their businesses and innovations.

Here, Lucy Champ Business Development Director at WoundWorks, one of our Accelerator companies, talks about their adoption and spread journey and why they applied to the Digital Health Accelerator programme. 

The East Midlands Digital Health Accelerator is a support programme for a small number of Digital Health innovators who we believe have an exciting and worthwhile innovation that can make a real difference to our health and care system.

We selected three companies for our 2019-20 cohort who over the next year will receive support from EMAHSN experts to further the spread and adoption of their innovations.

Here Michael-Morgan Curran, Commercial and Clinical Development Officer gives an overview of MyCognition, their experience of navigating the NHS and how they feel the East Midlands Digital Health Accelerator will help with the adoption and spread of their innovation.

Innovators often wonder why the NHS fails to adopt their products when to them it seems to be a ‘no brainer’, but I always make a point to ask them “have you actually expressed a clear Value Proposition?”

Embracing innovation and entrepreneurship in the NHS is a key way to help the NHS achieve its ambitions as set out in the Long Term Plan – unlocking the potential for great ideas and new technologies to both improve patient outcomes and enable more efficient use of NHS resources.

Today (5 March 2020) the NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA) announced its 2020 programme introducing a new cohort of 11 high impact evidence based innovations.

Here Tony Doyle from Qbtech tells us his motivation for becoming an NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA) fellow following the announcement of 11 new fellows for 2020, what he hopes to get out of the scheme and his experiences of striving to improve diagnosis of ADHD.

QbTest measures attention, impulsivity and motor activity all at the same time. These are the core symptoms of ADHD and accurate measurement adds objectivity to support faster diagnosis. I have worked for Qbtech, the company behind the QbTest, for just over nine years and in that time I’ve seen the tool spread to 20% of all acute and mental health NHS trusts in England. I have always worked in health and care, including roles in pharmaceuticals and in mental health. When I saw the position at Qbtech it married up my personal interests in mental health and technology. What really appeals is that we’re making a real difference to people.

As it’s LGBT history month, I wanted to use this opportunity to reflect on how my AHSN (East Midlands) approaches diversity and inclusion of the LGBT community in our quest to spread innovation within the health and care system.

I saw a thought-provoking and inspirational TEDxNHS talk by Jacob Bayliss called ‘Pride in Practice’. Identifying as a trans man, Jacob talks about the issues that the ‘invisibility’ of gender and sexuality can have within the health and care system and the impact this can have.

Earlier this month (7 February 2020) I had the pleasure of presenting our annual LPZ celebration event awards, which recognise the work of care home staff to improve the quality and standards in care homes across the East Midlands.

As the population continues to age and people live longer, the demand for care will undoubtedly increase. The Office for National Statistics predicts a 36% growth in persons aged 85+ between 2015 and 2025, from 1.5 million to 2 million. This is expected to lead to a substantial increase in demand for care home services (Care homes market study: summary of final report 2017).

As our organisation is growing, we are seeking a new Senior Innovation Lead to join the team (deadline for applications is 6 January 2020).

Here our Senior Innovation Lead Dawn Plummer talks about her role and responsibilities, what she enjoys and is looking forward to working on and what it is like working at EMAHSN to give any candidates a flavour of what they could expect working here.

We are currently seeking Senior Innovation Leads, two permanent posts and an additional fixed term contract / secondment to cover maternity leave. (deadlines for application is 14 May 2020).

Earlier this year our Senior Innovation Lead Dawn Plummer told us about her role and responsibilities, what she enjoys and what she was looking forward to working on at the time and what it is like working at EMAHSN to give any candidates a flavour of what they could expect working here.

Currently colleagues are working hard to proactively support the health and care system throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes brokering relationships between healthcare and industry to accelerate the adoption of useful technologies, providing patient safety support in priority areas along with enabling access to resources and supporting industry partners to register products and access funding for COVID-related technology. You can find out more about this here.

To find out more about the role and how to apply, visit the NHS Jobs website.

For World COPD Day, our Senior Improvement Lead Jose Garcia Escudero looks at some of the wider contexts in relation to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and current work being undertaken in the East Midlands to improve patient safety of those living with the condition.

The British Lung Foundation describes chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as “a group of lung conditions that make it difficult to empty air out of the lungs because the airways have become narrowed”. COPD can be treated but not cured and its seriousness should not be underestimated.