WMAHSN is welcoming the New Year by launching an array of new networks and services for its members. The WMAHSN is also launching an enhanced membership scheme that will offer premium services to provide stakeholders with a series of tools and practical support to accelerate the adoption of innovative technologies and service approaches, delivering improved healthcare outcomes and economic growth.
A grouping of specialist hospital trusts - including one from the West Midlands - has published a report on the potential for innovation in the NHS. The Federation of Specialist Hospitals, which includes Birmingham Women’s NHS Foundation Trust, recently published Driving Innovation in the NHS, which highlights the initiatives led by specialist hospitals to translate innovation into patient benefit while also delivering savings.
The value of Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) has been acknowledged in Forensic science and beyond: authenticity, provenance and assurance, a report by the Government Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Sir Mark Walport. The report is intended for policymakers, legislators, and a wide range of business people, professionals, researchers and other individuals whose interests include the use of forensic analysis within the Criminal Justice System through to authenticity, provenance and assurance in the provision of goods and services.
The Health Education England (HEE) Innovation Fund for Children’s and Young People’s Mental Health Services has been launched. There is £1 million available for projects to transform services for children and young people (up to 18 years old) with mental illness, and health, education and social care providers are invited to apply for funding before the deadline of Friday 15 January.
A company in the West Midlands is among 11 firms who have been successful in securing funding in a healthcare competition to address challenges in older people with multiple-morbidities. Safekeeping Solutions, based in Worcestershire, has secured almost £100,000 from SBRI Healthcare, an NHS England funded initiative to develop innovative products that address unmet health needs. Seeking to accelerate the development and adoption of new technologies in the NHS, the £1million SBRI award will be shared by small businesses which are working in the priority problem areas of falls, incontinence and decline in functional ability.
A centre in the West Midlands which is helping to transform the diagnosis and treatment of rare diseases and cancers is celebrating its first anniversary. The national 100,000 Genomes Project sets out to collect and decode 100,000 human genomes – complete sets of people’s genes – that will enable scientists and doctors to understand more about specific conditions. As part of the project the West Midlands Genomics Medicine Centre (WM GMC), which was launched a year ago, will deliver up to 18,000 of the total number of genomes.
A West Midlands specialist acute trust is celebrating a string of successes on an international scale. The achievements of the Royal Orthopaedic Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (ROH), based in Northfield, Birmingham, has included winning the best prize for the work of Lee Jeys on a new Birmingham classification for high-grade osteosarcoma, which is attracting a lot of interest.
NIHR CLAHRC West Midlands is looking for a highly skilled, motivated and experienced individual to join the central team as the Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) Lead. This post offers an exciting opportunity to be involved with, and engage others in, leading-edge health services research working alongside some of the best clinicians and researchers in the West Midlands.
The West Midlands Academic Health Science Network (WMAHSN) has signed up as the partner to deliver a new Digital Health incubator in the new year. The challenge-led facility, which will enable tech start-ups to access the region’s network of NHS trusts and Clinical Commissioning Groups, will be featured within the 2,500 sq ft Innovation Birmingham’s Serendip® Smart City Incubator in the new £8m iCentrum® building.
The University of Birmingham has launched a new competition to support SMEs across the country. The competition has two award categories, ‘High growth innovative SME of the year’ and ‘Best innovative idea for exploitation’.