Health Innovation North West Coast

The way primary care services are delivered is changing, with different specialists on hand via GP practices and with a growing number of diagnostic tests, screening and treatments available in community pharmacies.   We explore what’s in store for primary care in Cheshire and Merseyside after the launch of a new strategic framework which offers a timeline of actions at both local and system level...

For anyone involved in an emergency or needing urgent treatment, the experience can be scary and prolonged. For those who have cancer, the prospect is far more daunting.  In Cheshire and Merseyside, health leaders have collaborated to create pathways and processes which ensure that cancer patients can avoid visits to A&E and potentially long stays in hospital awaiting decisions and treatment. ...

Gideon Ben-Tovim OBE talks about the passions and experiences which have shaped his leadership, as he prepares to step down after ten years as Chair of the Innovation Agency. A former researcher and author on race relations; Liverpool City Council Labour leader; chair of Liverpool Primary Care Trust; and champion of the natural environment, Gideon recalls pivotal moments in his career – and in the...

Changes to the way diagnostic tests and screening are carried out in Cheshire and Merseyside mean many more tests are being carried out in more centres around the region.  A system-wide transformation programme has streamlined processes and introduced a new, flexible staffing system, while improving access to tests for patients.  Guests Liz Bishop and Dr Ash Bassi explain how the transformation is...

An entrepreneurial doctor whose company is backed by the Innovation Agency, has become an Innovation Fellow with the NHS Innovation Accelerator. Dr Michael Watts has helped to create a patient-centred, emergency-support software system designed to improve safety in maternity - Emergency Role Allocation (ERA). ERA was the brainchild of midwife Caroline Lacey, of Somerset NHS Foundation Trust. Micha...

This episode explores innovations in cardiovascular disease management being delivered to patients in primary care. In particular, the conversation focusses on lipids management and the introduction of a new treatment pathway which includes novel therapies. Innovation Agency chief executive Dr Phil Jennings talks to Dr Jim Moore, GP and president of the Primary Care Cardiovascular Society. To find...

The Innovation Agency is working with NHS Cheshire and Merseyside to help people at increased risk because of the combination of suffering a respiratory or cardiovascular condition and living in a cold home. It’s part of NHS England’s Innovation for Healthcare Inequalities Programme (InHIP) which seeks to address local healthcare inequalities experienced by deprived and other under-served populati...

The family of a 29 year old Cheshire man who died suddenly from heart failure have been diagnosed with a genetic condition which causes abnormally high levels of cholesterol. The condition is familial hypercholesterolaemia, or FH; and the family of the late Mike Clarke have now been tested for FH at a new screening service for Cheshire and Merseyside.  In this podcast we hear from Mike’s brother S...

A significant number of people across the North West Coast are unaware that they have high blood pressure. And during the pandemic, the British Heart Foundation reported that nearly half a million people in the UK missed out on starting medication to help prevent heart attacks and strokes. In this podcast, Dr Andy Knox, a GP in Lancashire and Cumbria who is also the area's associate medical direct...

Asthma presents a continuing challenge across primary care and research has shown that despite best efforts the numbers of patients who require optimisation and access to advanced therapies remains high. The Liverpool Severe Asthma Service (LSAS), which covers Cheshire and Merseyside, has been accelerating access to specialist care for asthma patients through innovative pathway transformation work...

The Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) sets out a new NHS approach to developing and maintaining effective systems and processes for responding to patient safety incidents, for the purpose of learning and improving patient safety. In the north west, a collaboration involving NHS England, Aqua, Health Innovation Manchester and the Innovation Agency is helping organisations to implem...

Helping establish productive links between businesses and health and social care to benefit patients is just one of the roles of the Innovation Agency 's Enterprise and Growth team. At this autumn's Healthcare Excellence Through Technology conference in London, a number of businesses who have capitalised on close ties with the team exhibited their work. In this edition of the Innovation Agency pod...

One of the keynote speakers at the Innovation Agency Bridging the Gap event was Lindsey Hughes, Director of Research and Engagement in the Innovation, Research and Life Sciences Group and Accelerated Access Collaborative at NHS England.  Bridging the Gap was one of a series of events held by different AHSNs around the country and featured workshops and presentations aimed at supporting businesses...

Healthcare innovators and NHS leaders were brought together at the Innovation Agency’s Bridging the Gap event in Liverpool.  The event was one of a series of events held by different AHSNs around the country and featured workshops and presentations aimed at supporting businesses and clinical entrepreneurs to progress or spread their innovations.   This series of presentation podcasts starts with a...

The Bridging the Gap conference heard from successful clinician and entrepreneur, Dr Mark Ratnarajah, who shared his story of combining his work as a paediatrician with building businesses. He is managing director of C2-Ai, a system which is recognised as providing best practice in waiting list and referral management by the NHS Getting It Right First Time programme. View a gallery of photos, vide...

An innovator who started building a prototype in a bedroom and went on to build a med tech company now exporting worldwide, told his story at the Bridging the Gap event in Liverpool.  Jordan Van Flute of Inovus Medical shared his experiences and lessons learned along the way, to inspire innovators attending the conference. View a gallery of photos, videos and slides from the event:  https://www.in...

Delegates to the Bridging the Gap event heard how the University of Central Lancashire is playing a major role in supporting innovation in the North West Coast. Professor StJohn Crean, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Enterprise, who is an honorary consultant in oral and maxillofacial surgery at Blackpool Victoria Hospital and the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay, was a keynote speaker at...

Realising the benefits of remote monitoring Identifying the benefits of using technology to monitor care outside hospital is vital in securing support and investment for spreading its use. This includes benefits to patients and carers and benefits to staff and health and care budgets.  This presentation at the Bridging the Gap event offered insights into how a multiagency approach and system suppo...

Efforts to tackle the lasting effects of the pandemic were considered by delegates at the Healthcare Excellence Through Technology event held at the Excel Centre in London. Dr Phil Jennings, Chief Executive of the Innovation Agency, chaired a discussion to consider what support can be offered to reduce the backlog of operations. His guests included Alison Johnson, Director of Programmes with ORCHA...

Clinicians in primary and secondary care in Cheshire and Merseyside have signed up to a new protocol setting out principles to guide how they will interact with each other. The guide is aimed at improving communications between staff in hospitals and GP surgeries, for the benefit of patients.  Innovation Agency Chief Executive and GP Dr Phil Jennings finds out why and what this is aiming to solve,...

One of the big challenges facing innovators in the NHS is how to get the funding and support to turn a great idea or prototype into reality.  In this podcast, two inspiring individuals talk about how they are helping innovators to realise their dreams. Professor Tony Young OBE, National Clinical Lead for Innovation NHS England and NHS Improvement and founder of the NHS Clinical Entrepreneurs Progr...

Core20PLUS5 and the Innovation Agency Core20PLUS5 is a national NHS England and NHS Improvement approach to support the reduction of health inequalities at both national and system level. The approach defines a target population cohort – the ‘Core20PLUS’ – and identifies five clinical areas requiring accelerated improvement. Eileen O’Meara, Clinical Director of the NW Health Inequalities Hub expla...

A shortlist of proposals for the New Hospitals Programme in Lancashire and South Cumbria has been announced. This is a significant development for the programme, which plans to develop new, cutting-edge facilities, offering the absolute best in modern healthcare and addressing significant problems with the ageing Royal Preston Hospital and Royal Lancaster Infirmary buildings. Caroline Kenyon talks...

New parents in Cheshire and Merseyside are being brought together with musicians to create lullabies for their babies in a creative health project which has been imported from New York’s Carnegie Hall. The Lullaby Project is being delivered by the charity Live Music Now through the Cheshire and Merseyside Women and Children’s Partnership, funded by the NHS. An online event heard from some of the m...

Mums, musicians and lullabies – and the health benefits New parents in Cheshire and Merseyside are being brought together with musicians to create lullabies for their babies in a creative health project which has been imported from New York’s Carnegie Hall. The Lullaby Project is being delivered by the charity Live Music Now through the Cheshire and Merseyside Women and Children’s Partnership, fun...