News and blogs

A new series of coaching courses aimed at supporting innovators in the North West Coast has been launched by the Innovation Agency, the Academic Health Science Network for the North West Coast.

The organisation’s Coaching Academy will be running three courses focussed on pandemic-related health and care innovations.

A Lancashire health tech firm has won a £500,000 funding boost to develop its ground-breaking technology that helps patients better manage their medicines in their own homes.

When I heard about this project it was an ideal opportunity for me both personally and professionally.  I’ve spent 18 years working as a nurse in acute hospital settings and making a difference to patients is why I went into nursing.  I think there are few opportunities more rewarding than improving the way in which we can look after children and young people.

Inspiring collaborations from across the north which have helped patients and the NHS cope with the pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic have been recognised in the 2021 NHS in the North Excellence in Supply Awards.

The number of Blackpool mums classed as smokers when they give birth has shown a dramatic decrease.

Up to 3,000 women give birth in Blackpool each year. The percentage classed as smokers once stood at 31 per cent. Now the figure is closer to 21 per cent and falling, making the resort one of the most improved areas in the country.

Research shared by the Innovation Agency, the Academic Science Network for the north west coast, has helped provide the Blackpool team with additional insight to help mums make potentially life-changing decisions.

After dragging on for years Brexit finally happened and, having worked on European-funded activities since the beginning of the 1990s, I have to confess I’d hoped it would never happen.

The finalists have been announced for this year’s NHS in the North Excellence in Supply Awards with the 2021 event set to be the best yet.

The awards celebrate inspirational examples of businesses and the NHS working together to provide great patient care, many of which have helped to combat the effects of the pandemic.

A woman lost her son after he was restrained in a seclusion room in a London hospital. She told her story at an event I attended recently and it underlined the importance of the work I am now undertaking.

The Innovation Agency is supporting this week’s Know Your Numbers initiative, a week-long (6th-12th September 2021) campaign to raise awareness of high blood pressure and the wider issue of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

CVD, which includes heart attacks and strokes, causes a quarter of all deaths in the UK and is of significant concern in the North West. Nationally it has been identified as the single biggest area where the NHS can save lives over the next 10 years.

As a trained audiologist, I’m used to helping people communicate.

It is a brilliant skill to have and one I have called on frequently as part of my work as a Programme Manager with the Innovation Agency.

My role is to help encourage the spread and adoption of innovations in Lancashire and south Cumbria.