If you're looking to making a difference and drive the spread and adoption of innovation from within the health and care system, we have three funded innovation communities you can join.
See below for more information:
INNOVATION SCOUTS
Join our Innovation Scouts
The Innovation Scouts are a community of practice for innovation and entrepreneurial enthusiasts. They are offered a programme of activity delivered by our Coaching Academy, including networking opportunities and skills and knowledge development, exploring the latest thinking on innovation.
Initially, the Scouts were drawn solely from NHS organisations but now the community includes innovators from all backgrounds working in health and care settings, including social entrepreneurs and individuals from system-wide programmes and networks.
Our aim is to target the right individuals with the support they need to succeed as innovators and to help them make valuable connections across different health and care settings.
Benefits of joining the community
- Innovation tools and approaches – design thinking, experimentation, thinking creatively, innovators mindset, practical tools, hackathons, MedCamps.
- Culture and leadership for innovation – organisational readiness, strategy development, engaging staff in innovation, conditions for innovation culture, developing innovative teams.
- Innovation pathway – appraising evidence, evaluation, uptake of innovation, optimising diffusion.
- Entrepreneurial skills – entrepreneurs mindset, business skills, creating successful startups, intellectual property, commercialisation, navigating procurement, resilience and maintaining wellbeing.
- Coaching and mentoring – access to innovation coaches and business mentorship
- Thought leadership and site visits – bringing expert speakers on innovation and entrepreneurship and facilitating visits to leading innovative organisations.
- Connecting and networking – providing opportunities to share experiences and gain knowledge through networking with like-minded people.
If you would like to discuss the Innovation Scout community of practice please contact Innovation Scout facilitator Karla.rimaitis@innovationagencynwc.nhs.uk
INNOVATION EXCHANGE NETWORK
A more formal Innovation Exchange Network helps to connect Health Innovation North West Coast to our local systems – NHS organisations, local authorities, GP federations/primary care networks, clinical networks and STP/ICS programme work streams.
Members use the network to share the innovations of their organisation and to learn about innovations from elsewhere, relevant to their workplace. They receive information from Health Innovation North West Coast about solutions which have a national seal of approval, having been well evaluated in an appropriate setting and backed by NHS commissioners.
Network members are senior connectors in their part of the system and we support them with an identified link person within Health Innovation North West Coast, with bespoke offers such as solution finding, support for service improvement work and coaching for development of innovative practices.
Some individuals will be both Innovation Scouts and members of the Innovation Exchange Network. For more information, email Juliette.Kumar@InnovationAgencyNWC.nhs.uk.
Q Community in the North West Coast
We host the North West Coast Q Community on behalf of the Health Foundation, bringing together people with improvement skills in our region. We support recruitment, provide networking opportunities both face to face and online, and offer other themed learning exchanges driven by community members.
More information about Qs here.