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Latest news and updates from EMAHSN - issue 15
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Welcome to the East Midlands Academic Health Science Network newsletter, which provides updates about our clinical, industry and patient safety programmes along with news about our support services, projects and funding opportunities.

EMAHSN news and announcements

New Managing Director is appointed

Professor Mike Hannay has been appointed as the new EMAHSN Managing Director and will take up his role from Monday 1 August.

Mike has over 25 years’ experience of working in the pharmaceutical industry, with an excellent track record of building collaboration between industry, healthcare and academia.
 
He joins EMAHSN from ThermoFisher Scientific, where as Vice President and General Manager for the UK BioPharma Services Division he has gained broad experience, both nationally and internationally, in the development of medicines and devices.

Mike will be replacing Rachel Munton who will retire at the end of July following a 38 year career dedicated to the NHS.

If you would like to know more please contact us at emahsn@nottingam.ac.uk.

New business plan 2016-17

EMAHSN Business Plan 2016-17 front coverOur new business plan is now available to download from our website. Our plan has been shaped through ongoing consultation with you, ensuring we can continue to focus on what matters most to our local partners.

Our clinical priorities, which include cancer, mental health, liver disease, diabetes and obesity, reflect key East Midlands’ major health priorities. Some of our projects will complete during this year and others have been added, arising from a series of Innovation Exchange events. These events bring together partners from across sectors to identify solutions to the region’s health challenges.

In addition to our clinical priorities we will use our networks and direct our knowledge, expertise and resources to support our East Midlands health and care partners to meet their wider transformation challenges, as set out in the NHS Five Year Forward View.

More information: view our full business plan or this summary version.

Over 3,000 emergency care packs distributed to East Midlands patients

An innovative project supported by EMAHSN that provides packs of emergency toiletries to patients entering hospital, has been shortlisted for a regional business award. Personal Care Packs is a social enterprise set up by Giving World. It provides the packs for patients isolated without friends or family, or who are admitted to hospital in an emergency. The packs contain essential items such as disposable washcloths, dental kit and shampoo.

A runner-up at EMAHSN’s 2015 Innovation awards, the project has just won the Collaboration with the NHS award at this year's MediLink East Midlands annual business awards. They are working with over 40 NHS trusts.
 
Feedback from service users has been extremely positive. One patient from Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust - transferred late on a Sunday night - said: "I was embarrassed about not having anything with me as I was rushed in late at night with no spare clothes or toiletries. That morning a nurse gave me this pack which I was just so grateful for, it saved the day."
 
More information: contact Sujata Sabharwal.

Call for East Midlands innovators to join national scheme

The search is on for NHS and industry innovators to join a pioneering national programme supported by the country’s Academic Health Science Networks.
 
The NHS Innovation Accelerator initiative is coordinated by NHS England in collaboration with the country’s Academic Health Science Networks. It is aimed at individuals who have developed proven innovations that can improve health outcomes and give patients access to the latest products, services and/or technology.
 
The fellows receive funding and mentoring support to spread their innovations nationally and the aim is to help introduce new innovations that can improve patient care and help put the NHS on a financially sustainable footing.
 
Potential fellows from the East Midlands are invited to an information event which will take place on the afternoon of Thursday 14 July in Nottingham – You can book here or for further information email NIA@uclpartners.com.
 
The scheme was launched last year with 17 fellows, and millions of patients around the country are already benefiting from their innovations; accessing new apps, safety devices and technologies. To date the innovations have been spread to 67 NHS organisations and the fellows have generated over £8m in funding.
 
The fellows include two from the East Midlands, Dr Neil Guha who is leading EMAHSN’s Scarred Liver project and Paul Volkaerts who founded Nervecentre Software Ltd.

East Midlands PPI senate welcomes new members

Two new members have joined the East Midlands Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) Senate, a group of independent experts drawn from across the region. Susan Edge and Mark Underwood are both from Lincolnshire and bring in-depth knowledge of the health system and patient involvement, ranging from CCG lay membership and roles on NHS trust boards, to local Healthwatch and GP patient participation groups.
 
The Senate helps ensure EMAHSN’s projects embed PPI excellence and also provides independent support, advice and guidance to local and national health and care organisations.
 
Over the past year it has progressed more than 70 activities including support and advice for the Better Together programme (Mid-Nottinghamshire), the East of England NHS Genomics Medicine Centre and NHS England’s Framework for PPI in Primary Care Commissioning.
 
The Senate has also produced guidance on ‘What good PPI should look like’.
 
More information: visit the Senate pages on our website

Recognition for Health Analytics team

EMAHSN's Health Analytics and Informatics programme has been recognised in two awards schemes.

Team member Dominick Shaw was shortlisted in the East Midlands Clinical Research Network’s Research Awards in the Continuous Improvement / Innovation category. 

Inginuity16 Awards Tahseen Dominick GemmaIn addition Dominick - along with colleagues Tahseen Jilani  and Gemma Housley - were recognised at the University of Nottingham’s Inqinuity16 awards for the their development of a  resource planning tool. The team’s “Health Caster” tool came in the top 20 finalists (out of 450 teams). It provides more accurate predictions of hospital emergency admissions, supporting better planning of resources. 

Potential support for earlier stage innovations

EMAHSN’s funding and support focuses on spreading proven innovations at pace and scale – however we may still be able to assist initiatives at an earlier stage in their development by adopting them as an ‘Affiliated Projects’. Such projects will have the potential to be spread at pace and scale at a later date.

Whilst we are not able to support affiliated projects financially or with programme management, our wide ranging support and advice services include:

•    Evaluation techniques

•    Signposting to other funding sources

•    Patient and Public Involvement expertise

•    Marketing and communications advice

•    Identification of potential partners across health, social care, higher education and industry. 

One recent example of our affiliated support is ‘Tackling AKI’, an innovative project led by Derby Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and funded by the Health Foundation. It will target reported deficiencies in care for acute kidney injury (AKI) patients, and by reducing the incidence of hospital-acquired AKI, AKI progression and hospital length of stay, it has the potential to save 10,000 lives a year across England.

The intervention focuses on an electronic detection and alerting system, along with a tailored education package. Pioneered at the Royal Derby Hospital, it will be rolled out to other hospitals following an initial evaluation that has shown it to be practicable, sustainable and effective.

Derby is collaborating to spread the innovation with the UK Renal Registry, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Ashford and St Peter’s Hospital, Frimley Park Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Surrey Pathology Services. 

More information: to find out more about becoming an EMAHSN Affiliated Project email emahsn@nottingham.ac.uk and for further details about Tackling AKI visit www.tacklingaki.org.

Clinical programme and project updates

Early diagnosis of cancer - ACE programme

EMAHSN’s Health Analytics and Informatics team is supporting an evaluation of the impact of ‘straight to test pathways’ on early diagnosis of oesophageal and gastric cancer.

The ACE (Accelerate Coordinate Evaluate) programme is supported by Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer, and aims to inform future commissioning by developing a body of evidence on the different approaches to diagnosis. The East Midlands element of the project will evaluate the pathway that seeks to improve diagnosis times and experiences for urgently referred patients with suspected cancers. Using data drawn from all East Midlands’ acute NHS trusts, the final report is expected autumn 2016.

Accolade for Dr Rebecca Fisher

Dr Rebecca Fisher from EMAHSN’s stroke team has been awarded the Stroke Association HRH Princess Margaret Senior Lectureship Award. The prestigious award will support her progression in the Division of Rehabilitation and Ageing, focused on stroke rehabilitation implementation research. Rebecca will take up her Associate Professor post in September.

Stroke rehabilitation - new directories signpost patients to support and major programme event 29 June 2016

EMAHSN’s Stroke Programme has worked with service users and providers to develop a series of directories to inform stroke survivors about the care available within their local area following discharge from hospital. The latest directories published cover services within Leicestershire and South Derbyshire.

The Stroke Programme, which will come to completion later this year, is hosting an event 'Improving community stroke services: How far have we come?' focusing on provision of community based stroke care for stroke survivors. It will draw together the wide range of initiatives supported through the programme, and will take place on Wednesday 29 June at Holywell Park, Loughborough.

More information or to book: contact Stroke Programme Manager Hazel Sayers.
 

Scarred Liver project demonstrates impact

EMAHSN’s pioneering Scarred Liver project has developed a community-based diagnostic pathway that detects liver disease at a critical stage before the onset of life-threatening symptoms. Initially piloted in Nottingham, during 2015 it was rolled out in Leicester.
 
This latest phase in Leicester - recently completed - focused on obesity, alcohol and diabetes risk factors. From a GP population of 4,500, more than 1,160 patients were identified as being at risk of developing liver disease. Of these, 720 Leicester patients were scanned and 82 had signs of significant liver disease.
 
An economic evaluation of the project has been showcased at two major academic events; by Implementation Fellow Dr Rebecca Harris at the European Association for the Study of Liver conference and by lead health economist Dr Lukasz Tanajewski at the University of Nottingham Health Economics Research Conference.
 
The evaluation report concludes that compared with standard care, implementing the pathway is both cost effective and provides better outcomes for patients with both non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and alcoholic liver disease.

More information: contact EMAHSN project manager Nick Hamilton.

Pioneering mental health innovation receives NICE endorsement

An intervention that supports patients and families affected by mental illness has been endorsed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

Developed by digital technology company Healios, the online family intervention for people with severe mental illness (such as psychosis and schizophrenia) has been deployed by a variety of NHS and local authority settings across the country. Healios lofo

The Healios innovative digital service increases the ability of those affected by mental illness, and their families, to access psychological support when and where they need it.

It will help break down the significant geographical barriers that exist across Lincolnshire by providing greater access, choice and convenience to evidence-based interventions for the entire family. 

We are currently planning the project in partnership with Healios, Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and NHS South West Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group (on behalf of the four Lincolnshire CCGs). This will introduce the Healios platform into the East Midlands for the first time as part of EMAHSN’s support for innovations in mental health services.

NICE has confirmed Healios’ family intervention service manual supports both the NICE clinical guidance and quality standards on family intervention for psychosis and schizophrenia.

More information: see our next newsletter for updates or contact EMAHSN Project Manager Nick Hamilton.

Industry and enterprise programme

Local partnership drives national diabetes prevention

Thousands of people throughout England are to benefit from a public / private partnership that is supporting NHS England’s ‘Healthier You’ national diabetes prevention programme.
 
Established with support from EMAHSN, the partnership between Leicester Diabetes Centre (LDC) and Ingeus has been selected to be one of four providers of the national programme. This programme will provide tailored support for people at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes, a preventable disease affecting 2.6 million people in England.

LDC is an international centre of excellence hosted by University Hospitals Leicester NHS Trust. It developed the ‘Let’s Prevent Diabetes’ intervention which can reduce the chances of 1 in 4 people at risk of type 2 diabetes from getting the condition. Ingeus is an organisation with expertise and resources to deploy prevention programmes on a wide scale.

As part of its work to help NHS organisations realise the potential of their research and intellectual property, EMAHSN helped set up the partnership between LDC and Ingeus. This included supporting the negotiation of a mutually beneficial commercial arrangement which reflects the strong partnership between the two organisations.

More informationVisit our website or contact EMAHSN Commercial Director Chris Hart.

Innovation Exchange focuses on health transformation

An Innovation Exchange event took place on 18 May in Loughborough, organised by EMAHSN in partnership with East Midlands Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs).
 
It brought together 150 representatives from East Midlands health organisations and industry, with the aim of identifying potential solutions to the region’s major health priorities.

Following the event, EMAHSN’s aim is to support health and industry partners to develop partnerships to progress innovative solutions to the priority areas identified by the CCGs. These focus on:
  • Empowering patients to take more control of their own care
  • Making sure patients receive the right care, in the right place at the right time
  • Improving links between hospitals and home, enhancing discharge pathways
  • Reducing costs and maximising health and care budgets
More information: for background to the event and a summary of the next steps, visit our website or contact EMAHSN Project Support and Industry Liaison Officer Aisha Ajij.

Funding for innovations to help patient flow and children's care

Companies are invited to bid for funding to develop solutions focusing on two key health areas: improving patient flow in acute care, and enhancing independence for children with long-term conditions.

The support is available via the latest competition from SBRI Healthcare, an initiative run by the country’s 15 Academic Health Science Networks with funding from NHS England. It supports small and medium companies develop innovative products and services to address unmet health needs - under the latest phase up to £100,000 feasibility funding is available to develop innovations.

The deadline for applications is 28 July, and SBRI Healthcare will host briefings in Leeds and London for interested companies - for more details visit the SBRI Healthcare website.

More information: if you are interested in applying and would like to discuss your project before submitting your application, get in touch with EMAHSN Commercial Manager Nick Brown.

Industry events and diary dates

Digital Health Special Interest Group (SIG)

The theme for this event on Wednesday 29 June 2016 is “The Health and Social Care data interface“ and it will focus on the value and importance of Digital Health.

Patient safety programme

Innovation pioneered in East Midlands recognised at national awards

An intervention to improve junior doctor performance - piloted in Leicester and developed in Lincolnshire – was a runner up at the British Medical Journal awards in May. “EPIFFANY” (Effective Performance Insight for the Future) was recognised in the Education Team of the Year category.

The innovation was piloted at Leicester General Hospital and with EMAHSN’s support was expanded to Pilgrim Hospital in Boston, Lincolnshire. It uses the principle of small gains to improve performance around key patient safety tasks such as note-taking, handover, acting on results and timely escalation to senior doctors. The impacts helped drive a 60% reduction in junior doctor prescribing errors in Boston, and the innovation is now attracting interest from other areas of the UK, USA and New Zealand.

More information: contact Cheryl Crocker, EM Patient Safety Collaborative Lead.

Sign up to Safety celebrates second birthday

On 24th June, Sign up to Safety celebrates two years since launch. A mighty 380+ organisations have rallied round the campaign in that time, helping staff achieve their patient safety aspirations and to care for their patients in the safest way possible. Read all about the plans for the birthday celebrations and more on how you can get involved here
 

National and regional updates

Introducing genomics into healthcare - free video resources

Health Education England’s Genomics Education Programme has launched its latest educational resource - seven films for laboratory staff working on the 100,000 Genomes Project.

Outlining the current correct process for sample processing and DNA extraction, the films aim to support laboratory technologists to prepare high quality samples in order to ensure good results from whole genome sequencing.

You can watch the films here.

For more background to the 100,000 Genomes Project visit Genomics England.

Partner updates

Health Education England - East Midlands

Developing Clinical Scientists – Silver Scientist Awards 2016
An exciting new programme to support Clinical Scientists working in the region is being launched to develop their career through the Clinical Scholar Silver Scientist Award. The programme – tailored specifically for Clinical Scientists - provides individuals with a 30-day bespoke programme of development to support an application to the Higher Specialist Scientific Training (HSST) programme.

The programme will run from October 2016 for six months and candidates will need to commit to 30 days attendance. Funding will be available to the successful applicants’ organisation to facilitate this. Guidance notes and application form can be found here.

NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research & Care East Midlands (CLAHRC EM)

For all the latest updates view their website.

Institute of Mental Health update

For updates visit their website.

East Midlands Leadership Academy

For updates visit their website.

Please share this newsletter with colleagues

To keep up to date visit our website, follow us at @EM_AHSN or get in touch at emahsn@nottingham.ac.uk tel 0115 823 1300.
Copyright © 2016 East Midlands Academic Health Science Network, All rights reserved.


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