Transformation is high on the agenda for health and care communities. There are significant demands on organisations to work together to better integrate services and streamline pathways for safer, more patient-centred care, while improving efficiency and reducing costs.
The role of the West of England AHSN, and the AHSN Network which makes up the 15 AHSNs in England, is to aid and support our healthcare systems and member organisations through this journey as both a champion and critical friend.
Responding to COVID-19
Since March 2020 much of our work has been focused on supporting our healthcare system’s response to COVID-19, and plan ahead for a post-COVID-19 landscape. Read more about our work related to COVID-19.
National programmes
We are delivering a number of programmes selected for national adoption and spread by the AHSN Network:
- Lipid management
- Early Intervention Eating Disorders
- Improving diagnosis of ADHD
- Blood pressure optimisation
- Polypharmacy: getting the balance right
Improving patient safety
An important focus of much of our transformation work is in improving patient safety. The majority of this work is commissioned by NHS Improvement although we also undertake local projects to improve patient safety.
Local priorities
Across the West of England, we have a number of local projects which aim to address priorities highlighted by our members and health care systems. These include:
- Support, free training and resources for care providers
- Addressing maternal inequity through Black Maternity Matters and our Regional Perinatal Equity Network
- Perinatal Excellence to Reduce Injury in Premature Birth (known as PERIPrem)
- Medicines optimisation
- COPD Digital CHAMP (Coaching Health App Implementation Partnership)
- Preventing Surgical Site Infection across a region (known as PreciSSIon)
- Non-COVID virtual wards
- Creating an Evidence Repository for those working in the NHS, public health or universities
- Supporting high impact users in Emergency Departments (known as SHarED)
- Piloting care frameworks for patients with long term conditions
Driving innovation and improvement
Embedded in the regional health and care economy with links to industry, research bodies and universities, we are in a unique position to:
- Identify gaps and priorities and signpost proven treatments and diagnostics through programmes such as Rapid Uptake Products and Med Tech Funding Mandate.
- Provide space for people to connect, develop innovative thinking skills and collaborate through the West of England Academy.
National programmes 2018-2020
The AHSN Network’s national programmes in 2018-2020 were:
