Healthcare innovations pioneered in the East Midlands to benefit millions of people throughout England

Following an international search, NHS England’s Medical Director Sir Bruce Keogh has today (Monday 6^th July) revealed the 17 ‘fellows’ who will be part of the NHS National Innovation Accelerator programme.

The fellows have all developed world-leading health products, technologies and processes - including two developed in the East Midlands - that will now be rolled out at pace to theatres, hospitals and GP practices across the country, benefiting millions of people.

The fellows were selected from over 120 applications worldwide. To be successful they had to demonstrate that they are healthcare pioneers who have developed new ways of working that are improving the way patients are treated and cared for.

The innovations pioneered in the East Midlands are:

• Dr Neil Guha from the https://www.nddcbru.org.uk/">NIHR Nottingham Digestive Diseases Biomedical Research Unit has developed a novel diagnostic pathway with liver specialists in the East Midlands. It is based in the community and detects liver disease at a critical stage before the onset of life threatening symptoms. As a fellow, Neil could now benefit from financial backing and specialist mentoring from internationally renowned figures to scale the innovation and launch it nationally – ensuring learning from the East Midlands benefits many more patients around the country and helps generate efficiencies for the NHS.
  
  "It is an honour to be selected as one of the fellows,” said Dr Guha. “However, the critical benefit will be to provide funding and support to take something developed within Nottingham and spread it nationally so it can help to save lives and reduce the financial cost to the NHS. My ambition is to gain a greater understanding of how to implement genuine innovation within the NHS – at pace and scale.”
• Paul Volkaerts founded http://nervecentresoftware.com/">Nervecentre Software in 2010. In conjunction with Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, the company pioneered a new software system to support effective communication between clinicians in busy acute hospitals.
  
  It provides staff with instant access to electronic information, reducing delays in patient care and saving money. Based on the success of the East Midlands pilot the initiative is now being spread around the country. As a fellow, Paul could now receive support and coaching to demonstrate the benefits that mobile task management systems can provide to hospitals throughout England.

The National Innovation Accelerator programme is supported by the country’s 15 Academic Health Science Networks, and led by UCLPartners and the Health Foundation.

Managing Director of the East Midlands Academic Health Science Network, Professor Rachel Munton, said:

Following a process open to healthcare pioneers world-wide, two of the 17 successful fellows developed their innovations within the East Midlands. This reinforces the incredible and pioneering work taking place throughout our region’s health system.

Academic Health Science Networks were established to spread innovation, and we are delighted to be supporting these outstanding individuals, and their innovations. This programme is a significant opportunity for these inspirational fellows to further develop their innovative services, systems and process so they benefit patients nationwide.

Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS England’s National Medical Director said:

The NHS stands on the cusp of a revolution in innovation. At its heart, innovation is the will to better; to find solutions for existing needs or new problems through more effective products, processes, technology or even the way we deliver services. Today we increase the opportunity for improving patient care by creating new conditions for ideas to thrive.

Dr Mahiben Maruthappu, NHS England lead for the Innovation Accelerator programme, said:

Innovation is critical to enabling the NHS to achieve the ambitions set out in the Five Year Forward View: to ramp up the pace and scale of change, and deliver better outcomes for patients. The fellows bring a huge breadth of expertise to the programme and a passion for achieving better outcomes for patients through the adoption of innovation.