Dr Nicola Hutchinson, Chief Executive at Health Innovation North East and North Cumbria (HI NENC), reflects on a month of celebration. From the inspiring Bright Ideas in Health Awards to national visits from NHS England leaders, discover how innovation and entrepreneurship are driving healthcare improvements across the North East and North Cumbria.

Bright Ideas in Health Awards

It has been a busy and exciting month at HI NENC and, as always, I’m incredibly proud of what continues to be achieved in our vibrant health and life sciences sector.

Our region’s talent, passion for innovation, and shared determination to improve patient care was celebrated last month at the 19th annual Bright Ideas in Health Awards. The evening was both humbling and inspiring, highlighting the remarkable individuals and groundbreaking projects driving innovation across the North East and North Cumbria. My heartfelt congratulations go out to all the finalists and winners . Your work truly reflects the  innovative and entrepreneurial spirit of our region. For those of you keen to learn more, read about the winners and finalists.

As part of the awards evening, we were thrilled to welcome Dr Karan Rajan as a guest speaker. Dr Rajan, an NHS surgeon and popular health and social care social media creator, has built a following of over 10 million people across platforms, including TikTok and YouTube. His frank and engaging videos, which bust medical myths and provide health advice, have made a real-world impact by improving public awareness and understanding of health.

National NHS visits showcasing innovation in the North East and North Cumbria

Last month, we were also honoured to host Dr Vin Diwakar, Medical Director for Transformation and Secondary Care at NHS England, during a visit to the region. As part of his time with us, we facilitated a showcase event, where innovators presented their innovations which are addressing challenges in health and social care. Following the showcase, HI NENC’s Chair, Professor Dean Fathers, led a roundtable discussion focused upon the importance of accessing support from HI NENC, and the wider ecosystem, to drive innovation that will improve health and social care and support the reduction of health inequalities.

Another significant milestone this month was welcoming the national NHS England Secure Data Environment (SDE) team to the North East. The SDE platform is aiming to become the primary system for accessing health and care data for research and analysis in the region.

As one of four partners in this ambition programme – collaborating with the NENC Integrated Care Board (ICB), North of England Commissioning Support (NECS), and Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (CNTW) – we were proud to demonstrate the progress being made.

The visit was an opportunity to demonstrate how we are engaging with the public about how their data will be used for research and planning. Notably, national colleagues were impressed by the live technical platform, and a pioneering test project which is using AI to link data from different organisations to understand more about overprescribing.

Funding to upscale Healthy Heart Checks programme

In other exciting news, I’m delighted to share that HI NENC has secured funding to expand our Healthy Hearts Check Programme. Cardiovascular health remains a key priority for the NHS, particularly in underserved communities. This additional funding will enable us to bring vital health checks closer to those who need them most.