Oxford AHSN newsletter October 2015

News from the Oxford Academic Health Science Network

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Newsletter Issue 24 - October 2015

Our latest quarterly report highlights key areas of progress

Our latest progress report to NHS England covering July-September includes a number of key developments. Read it here >

In this edition

Isansys take top prize for collaboration

More success for our partners

Clinicians, patients, commissioners and innovators contribute to our test bed bid

New course will help NHS staff to innovate effectively

We're addressing unwarranted variation

Helping us get active every day

Still time to enter flu poster competition

Trade agreement event provokes debate

Latest SBRI competition puts spotlight on urgent care

NHS Innovation Challenge Prizes deadlines extended

Isansys take top prize for collaboration

Congratulations to Isansys who were deserved winners of our second annual Best Public-Private Collaboration award. The prize was presented during the OBN awards night at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, on 1 October.

The Isansys Patient Status Engine – a wireless patient monitoring platform which captures and analyses real-time data - has already won £1m in development funds from SBRI Healthcare and undergone successful tests at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. Oxford Academic Health Science Network Chief Operating Officer Dr Paul Durrands (above, left) handed over the trophy to Keith Errey of Isansys. Paul said: "The judges were impressed with Isansys’s ongoing collaboration with the NHS to improve patient safety – at home as well as in hospital." Read more >

...More success for our partners

A number of our partners have been shortlisted for the HSJ Awards which will be presented on 18 November. They include:

Berkshire Healthcare – SHaRON eating disorders recovery service, backed by the Oxford AHSN (Innovation in Mental Health)
Buckinghamshire Healthcare (Clinical Research Impact)
Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust – Milton Keynes mental health street triage (Innovation in Mental Health)
Oxford Health – Suicide Awareness Training (Learning/Development)
Oxford University Hospitals (Workforce)
Royal Berkshire – (Learning/Development)

Stoke Mandeville ward wins cancer care quality award >

Clinicians, patients, commissioners and innovators contribute to our test bed bid

The Oxford AHSN brought together clinicians, patients and commissioners at briefings in Reading and Oxford in September which helped shape our final proposals to the NHS test beds programme. Our focus is ‘Keeping people well and out of hospital using digital, diagnostics and precision medicine innovation’ in four clinical areas:

Better outcomes for people with long-term conditions
Reducing hospital admissions for children
Improving quality of life for people with respiratory disease
Improving the stroke care pathway

We are working with Wessex AHSN to identify lead organisations and innovators ahead of our joint submission. Further information: julie.hart@oxfordahsn.org
Oxford AHSN test bed briefing discussion Reading

CLINICAL INNOVATION ADOPTION
New course will help NHS staff to innovate effectively

The Oxford AHSN is hosting an open evening to introduce a free course which will help frontline NHS staff innovate more effectively.

Tracey Marriott, Oxford AHSN’s Director of Clinical Innovation Adoption, said: “This is a hands-on course for NHS staff who are perhaps a little frustrated at their inability to introduce innovative ideas. It will give them the practical skills they need to make their workplaces more receptive to new thinking.”

The Innovating in a healthcare setting programme at Buckinghamshire New University (BNU) takes place over 12 days during 2016. The course, which has 25 places is fully funded by Health Education Thames Valley (HETV). Time committed to the programme will count towards further study.

Come and hear from senior representatives from the Oxford AHSN, HETV and BNU at the open evening on 26 October.

We're addressing unwarranted variation

The latest NHS Atlas of Variation highlights one of the key roles of the Oxford AHSN – identifying and tackling unwarranted variation in outcomes and practice. Our approach is highlighted in this report into variation in paediatric care produced by our Children’s Clinical Network. Addressing unexplained service variation is also a key element of our developing NHS test beds proposal (see above).

Helping us get active every day

It’s no surprise to learn that one in four people in England risk major health problems because they are not sufficiently active. The Oxford Academic Health Science Network, in partnership with County Sports Partnerships in Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire and Public Health England, is running ‘Get Physical: be active, stay healthy’ to explore how physical activity can be incorporated into the daily lives of NHS staff and patients. The event takes place on 9 December at the Oxford Belfry, Milton Common.

Learn more and register through www.getphysical.org.uk
Follow us on Twitter: @GetPhys

Patient safety role

Our Patient Safety Lead Prof Charles Vincent, left, has taken on a key extra role with a global patient safety thinktank.
Read the latest on our patient safety work here

New web content

Latest additions to the Oxford AHSN website include more details on our wide-ranging Wealth Creation programme and Diabetes Clinical Network projects.

BEST CARE CLINICAL NETWORKS

Still time to enter flu poster competition

The Oxford AHSN Children's Clinical Network is encouraging children in school years 1 and 2 to create posters on the theme: 'This is what I would look like with flu.'
The closing date for entries is 23 October. More details here >
The flu immunisation campaign is being extended to this age group this year. The vaccine is delivered in the form of a nasal spray.

WEALTH CREATION

Trade agreement event provokes debate

About 50 people attended a wide-ranging discussion hosted by the Oxford AHSN looking at the transatlantic trade and investment partnership. More details of the 24 September event here >

Latest SBRI competition puts spotlight on urgent care

Innovations in urgent and emergency care are being sought in the latest SBRI Healthcare competition.

NHS Innovation Challenge Prizes deadlines extended

The 2015 NHS Innovation Challenge Prize programme aims to identify innovations – including new care pathways, services or technologies – that have potential for widescale spread and adoption. This latest funding opportunities cover cancer and rehabilitation. Oxford AHSN can support and advise applicants in finalising their submissions. The deadline for applications has been extended to 19 October. Further information here >

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OTHER NEWS

Bucks pharmacist wins top prize for stroke work

A Bucks pharmacist working with our Medicines Optimisation Clinical Network has won a national prize. Satinder Bhandal received the Clinical Pharmacist of the year award from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. Satinder’s achievements include setting up a new oral anticoagulant service to reduce avoidable strokes in patients diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and a pharmacist-led prescribing clinic.