News and blogs

The former managing director of BAE Systems Corporate Services, Steve Fogg, has been appointed as chair of the SEED alliance - a multi-sector collaborative set up to contribute to ‘health and wealth’ in Lancashire and South Cumbria.

The AHSN Network, of which the Innovation Agency is a part, has published a rapid-learning report on the role of Patient Safety Collaboratives (PSCs) during the pandemic. PSCs are just one part of the health and care system which responded quickly to the immediate crisis from COVID-19 in March. They reprioritised their day-to-day work and took on new programmes at speed, such as promoting safer tracheostomy care.

A project is under way in the North West Coast to tackle the potentially fatal condition of high cholesterol. The two-year programme is a collaboration between the Innovation Agency and pharmaceutical company Amgen to improve health outcomes for people with raised cholesterol who have a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD).

The Innovation Agency and fellow AHSNs are supporting a new national funding initiative led by the Health Foundation, to support healthcare provider organisations to adopt innovation faster.

A new report from The King’s Fund explores the evolution of the Innovation Agency since it began seven years ago as ‘a curious experiment’.

The economy in the North West Coast has received the biggest boost yet from the Innovation Agency.

In the last year alone, 343 businesses have been supported, resulting in the creation of 112 jobs; £12.8m funding secured; and more than £5.3m worth of new contracts with the NHS.

In Malcolm Gladwell’s book ‘The Tipping Point’ he states, “Ideas and products and messages and behaviours spread like viruses do,” which is a truly insightful observation.

After seven and a half productive and happy years at the Innovation Agency, I am moving on to be the Managing Director of Leeds Academic Health Partnership. This is a similar role to my current one and I applied for it as I have a passion for working in collaboration with partners to achieve better health and well-being for the people we serve.

Before working in the NHS, I always presumed patients’ medical records were stored on computers for all health professionals to view, until a visit to A&E taught me otherwise.

Innovators with projects which improve health and wellbeing can apply to join the next cohort of NHS Innovation Fellows.