The positive impact of working together

11th May 2023

This month, our Chief Executive Nicola Hutchinson, reflects on the ways in which the AHSN NENC supports the facilitation of collaborative working between partners and the positive impact of this on our region.

It was a privilege to officially launch the Health and Life Sciences Pledge North East and North Cumbria alongside the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (NENC ICB) last month. The Pledge brings together the regional health and life sciences ecosystem to pool expertise from innovators, academia and the NHS, with an ultimate goal of saving lives and improving the health and wellbeing of people across the region.

Our region is proud to be home to many amazing health and life sciences organisations that are achieving great things within the sector. By creating a network that taps into these collective strengths, the Pledge will position the region as a world-leading destination in health and social care innovation and research.

We are delighted to have so many Pledge partners on board and we are looking forward to working together going forward. If your organisation would like to make a difference and become a pledgee, I’d encourage you to get in touch and find out more. We are also hosting a Pledge roadshow event at Carlisle Racecourse on 25th May. The aim of the event will be to bring together the Health and Life Science Infrastructure from the Cumbria region to celebrate the Health and Life Science Pledge. You can register your place for this event here.

The positive impact of working together is evidenced in our recent work with Pockit Diagnostics. We are proud to have supported Pockit, with the development of their life-saving ‘LVOne’ device – a test designed to identify Large Vessel Occlusion strokes in minutes. The first-of-its-kind test is due to be trialled across the region next month and has the potential to refer up to 15,000 patients to urgent, life-saving care. This real-world example demonstrates the positive impact of ecosystem partners working together to collectively address challenges within the sector and improve patient outcomes.

We’re also really excited by the progress that has been made on the Innovation for Healthcare Inequalities Programme (InHIP),which aims to identify and address some of the inequalities relating to Cardiovascular Disease in the region. Working in collaboration with the NENC ICB, NHIR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) NENC and Middlesbrough Public Health Team, the team is beginning to gather behavioural insights into why people do and do not engage with the health system, with a focus on heart health services in Teesside. We’ll be hosting a joint webinar on Thursday 29th June for anyone who is interested in in behavioural insights and how understanding them can improve the care we provide.

There is a lot to celebrate as a region and it was great to see local projects shortlisted in two categories at the HSJ Digital Awards 2023. This includes the AHSN NENC Digital Champions Education programme, which aims to promote digital technology in primary care, and our collaborative work alongside Healthcall to reduce the physical health gap for people living with Severe Mental Illness (SMI). Congratulations to everyone involved in the programmes. You can view the full HSJ Digital Awards shortlist here.

It is fantastic to see the real impact we can have on health and social care when we come together as a region. The AHSN NENC will continue to support and work closely with our partners, to improve the health of our region and drive economic growth.

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