The Innovation Exchange

Our Innovation Exchange provides the support you need at any stage of your innovation. Get access to all our business services in one place as well as local and national funding opportunities.

Visit the Innovation Exchange

The West of England Academy

Explore our free Academy resources to gain essential knowledge and skills for innovative thinking and improvement in healthcare. Our resources include events, toolkits and online learning.

Explore the Academy


News

New Digital Health Hub launches in South West England and Wales

A consortium of universities from across the South West of England and Wales have come together to …

Read more

Blog

Unique research collaboration highlights innovative approaches for post-pandemic healthcare A new report outlines the findings of 14 projects which identified and tested promising innovations to support post-pandemic ways of working in the NHS. The NHS Insights Prioritisation Programme was launched in 2021 to contribute to the recovery from COVID-19, build resilience and deliver benefits to patients. Health innovation networks (HINs) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaborations (ARCs) teamed up for the projects, benefitting from each other’s unique skills and links with system partners. Each project received a share of £4.2m funding from NHS England and the Accelerated Access Collaborative. The partnerships tested and evaluated innovative approaches within their local Integrated Care Systems. Each project focused on four priority areas: • Remote consultation – a discussion between a clinician or patient which is not carried out face-to-face • Remote monitoring – using technology to support people at home to collect clinical data and share it securely with a clinician • New approaches to service delivery – improving services, particularly for those experiencing health inequalities for access to services • Health and social care workforce innovation – how staff can help innovation in service delivery and develop new ways of working The COVID-19 pandemic acted as a disruptor and accelerator of innovation. By demonstrating its resilience and ability to make changes rapidly, the NHS has been able to learn from the pandemic and future-proof services. The local collaboration between Health Innovation West of England and NIHR ARC West focused on the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme. The scheme funds non-GP healthcare professionals, such as physiotherapists and paramedics, to work in primary care. • Read the summary report and individual findings for each project • Read the West of England project report (PDF) Richard Stubbs, Chair of The Health Innovation Network, explains: “The NHS Insights Prioritisation Programme has provided a rapid analysis of some of the most promising health and care innovations across the country in real-world settings. These findings and recommendations will help Integrated Care Systems understand how they might implement these new approaches in their local system.” An independent evaluation of the programme concluded that NIPP had been successful in facilitating a structured approach for the funding and acceleration of innovations and interventions, building on previous initiatives, such as the NHS Beneficial Changes Network. It also noted that the programme had cemented existing relationships between health innovation networks and NIHR ARCs, which may lead to more joint working in future. Professor Dame Nicky Cullum, Chair of the NIHR Applied Research Collaborations, added: “The collaboration between the health innovation networks and the NIHR Applied Research Collaborations has enabled us to deliver practical insights that address changing health and care needs post-pandemic. We hope this learning will help health and care teams, and benefit our communities.” See the full evaluation, together with the project and executive summary reports, and links to a series of podcasts and blogs about the programme.

A new report outlines the findings of 14 projects which identified and tested promising innovations …

Read more

Receive our newsletters

Sign up to our regular newsletters for the latest information about our work and projects.

Find out more

Events

Bristol Patient Safety Conference 2024

Date: 15/05/2024   Time: 00:00
Read more

Who we are

Health Innovation West of England is helping to deliver positive healthcare outcomes in the region and nationally by driving the development and adoption of new innovations and enabling patients to play an increasing role in their own care and of others. In doing so the impact of our work is far-reaching: from enhancing patient wellbeing, saving lives and mitigating high risk incidents such as strokes; to enhancing efficiencies in healthcare practice and boosting the local economy through private sector collaborations. Find out more about us.


What we do

Impact review 2022-23: integrating innovation

Read more

Business plan 2023-24

Read more

Transforming services and systems

Read more
Child with a doctor

Improving patient safety

Read more

Primary Care

Read more
Innovation Exchange

The Innovation Exchange

Read more