Blogs

Following our Long Term Conditions Innovation Exchange in 2017, Nottingham University Hospitals put forward a proposal to trial a digital outpatient follow up project to reduce unnecessary appointments for patients and help improve patient experience.

Following a successful roll out in three clinical specialties, the project has been shortlisted for a HSJ Award in the Digitising Patient Services category. Here Clinical Lead for the project, Dr M. Ananth Sivanandan, talks about the project and the benefits so far, as well as the importance of digital innovation in healthcare.

I’m absolutely delighted to write my first blog as the new Managing Director of the East Midlands AHSN!

Having worked in the medical technology and pharmaceutical industries for the last 24 years, I understand the positive impact that appropriate solutions can have for the healthcare system and patient outcomes.

I’m looking forward to using my knowledge to help innovators navigate the healthcare system and work with NHS and health and social care providers to find solutions to some of their most pressing priorities.

Here Sarah Bolton, Business Manager at the Centre for Healthcare Equipment and Technology Adoption (CHEATA), experts in evidence gathering for NHS adoption, talks about the importance of the different types of evidence medtech innovators can use to support their commercialisation and adoption. 

Here at CHEATA we meet developers of medical technology regularly and more often than not, the question that is asked is – ‘What can we do to get our device adopted by the NHS?’ The answer is never straightforward, but it usually revolves around one thing – evidence.

To mark World Patient Safety Day and International Patient Safety Day (17 September 2019) I wanted to reflect on how the UK’s network of 15 Patient Safety Collaboratives fit into the bigger picture of a culture of safety within the health and care system.  

From a worldwide perspective, patient safety as a theme unites our unique health and care systems as safety can only be achieved through an integrated approach which focuses on continuous improvement and learning – regardless of the country in question, to improve patient safety the process needs to be iterative.

Landelijke Prevalentiemeting Zorgkwaliteit (LPZ) - Care Homes Harms Prevalence Audit Tool measures the occurrence of common care issues such as pressure ulcers, continence, nutrition, falls, restraint and pain. Routinely reviewing LPZ data, allows care homes to make improvements to the care they deliver resulting in reduced falls, reduced pressure ulcers and improved continence and pain management.

The East Midlands Patient Safety Collaborative (EM PSC) initially started delivering the LPZ programme, which was developed by Maastricht University in the Netherlands, in 2016. After establishing that improving safety in care homes was a priority area, the East Midlands’ team searched for best-practice examples of care home safety initiatives to address common care issues. LPZ was selected as an exemplar for improving patient care and safety in this area.

Geoff Smith OBE, EMAHSN Patient and Public Involvement Senate Member

Geoff has been a prominent member of the EMAHSN Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Senate for five years. He is retiring as a Senate member on his eighty-ninth birthday after making an incredible contribution to the Senate and the wider health and care system across the East Midlands. Here he gives an account of his experience in PPI across the region and an overview of the importance of PPI and the EMAHSN PPI Senate.

Here, Dr Mittal PReCePT Clinical Lead, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust talks about his role in PReCePT and his experiences of the programme so far.  To find out more about PReCePT you can visit: www.healthinnovation-em.org.uk/our-work/innovations/precept 

I am at present working as a Neonatal Consultant at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust. I have over 18 years’ experience in paediatrics, and have completed five years of training in the UK which was mainly in neonatal intensive care.

Since the Academic Health Science Networks (AHSN) were first established in 2013, excellent progress has been made to achieve our collective goal to improve health and generate economic growth across the country.

In the East Midlands, we’re proud to have developed long and lasting relationships with our local health and care partners. We have worked with these partners to deliver programmes and innovations which answer national health and care priorities. In addition, we have collaborated with them to develop potential new programmes that fit with local health and care challenges through our Innovation Exchange process. We have also worked with numerous of commercial and NHS innovators and supported them to test, develop and spread their innovative health and care solutions within the system, using our unique position to bridge the gap between industry and the NHS.

I’ve had an absolutely fantastic time at the East Midlands Academic Health Science Network (EMAHSN). As a relatively small organisation, currently employing just over 40 people – I am immensely proud of the impact we have in improving patient’s lives. Our success is built on the strong collaborative working relationships we have across the NHS, academia, social care, voluntary sector and industry as well as the synergies we derive from working in the ‘connected network of networks’ formed by the 15 Academic Health Science Networks across the country.

Whilst in a meeting at a GP practice a doctor said something that really resonated with me, they said “we are all recruited by patients to serve the patients”. 

The Innovation Technology Payment or ‘ITP’ programme which is delivered in partnership with the country’s 15 Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs), works to support NHS organisations to adopt a number of selected evidence-based innovative solutions. The scheme has been running since 2017 (although in a different guise previously), and a new selection of exciting innovations has just been announced – you can find out more about these here.