Nine programmes have received up to £30k each additional funding to evaluate the impact of their innovation.

EMAHSN set up the fund to help health and care organisations to evaluate transformational projects that, if successful, could be implemented across the region and nationwide.

The successful projects are:

• Well-Track an early intervention in psychosis service, to help improve users’ sleep physical activity, wellbeing, mental health and to reduce weight gain - Northamptonshire ICS
• Digital Musculo-skeletal (MSK) solution to support patients waiting for secondary care treatment - Derbyshire ICS
• Oakley Vale Memory Hub – a service created for people living with dementia and their carers - Northamptonshire ICS
• Two heart failure projects that will establish integrated, community-based services - Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire ICSs
• Mental health service transformation for people living with personality disorder - Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICS
• Transforming the two weeks wait Cancer pathway – introducing primary care / community specialist breast pain clinics - Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland ICSs
• Mental health urgent assessment centre - Lincolnshire ICS
• Atrial Fibrillation virtual ward - Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland ICS

Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) “identify, test and spread new technologies and better ways of working.” Since its launch in 2013, East Midlands AHSN has acquired a vast amount of expertise around rapid evaluation and testing out potential solutions in real world settings.

Suze Horobin, Head of Innovation Exchange at EMAHSN said: “We are looking forward to working with the programme leads to set up their evaluation processes and see how their projects evolve over the next year. By helping local organisations to evaluate their innovations more formally, we can ensure we learn from and share those that are making a difference so that more patients can benefit.”