national success for region's healthcare innovations
Healthcare innovations put forward by NHS staff in the East of England swept the board at the National Technology Awards held in London recently, with three out of the four first prizes being carried away by staff from the region.
NHS Innovations East was one of nine similar organisations located throughout the UK, to put forward entries. Thirty regional finalists were then selected from which the winners were chosen.
Dr John Cockburn and Dr Simon Wemyss-Holden, Consultants from the Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital NHS Trust won first prize in the Medical Devices category for inventing a new technique to help destroy inoperable soft tissue tumours.
Dr Claire Linge and Mr Richard Baker from the RAFT Institute of Plastic Surgery based at Mount Vernon Hospital won a first in the Diagnostics & Therapeutics category for their pioneering work in using insulin to reduce skin scarring after surgery, trauma or burns.
Dr Raj Lakshman, a Specialist Registrar in Public Health at the Medical Research Council in Cambridge won a first in the Publications & Training Aids category for her innovation 'Top Grub', a healthy eating card game and resource pack for teachers to encourage children to understand food values and make healthy choices from an early age.
 The winners were each presented with a cheque for £4,000 to further develop their ideas by Professor Heinz Wolff of Brunel University and by entrepreneur and inventor of the wind-up radio, Trevor Baylis. The winners and runners up were presented to Ben Bradshaw, Minister of State for Health.
Dr Peter Blenkinsop, Chief Executive NHS Innovations East, said: "This is a great achievement for all NHS staff within the East of England who have come forward with ideas for products or service delivery innovations to improve the patient experience. To win three of the four first prizes is an exceptional result and underlines the creativity and commitment that comes from our region."
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2008 Innovation Competition launched
NHS Innovations East is appealing to staff working in all branches of the NHS throughout the region to come forward with their healthcare innovations.
The 2008 Innovation Competition has just been launched by NHS Innovations East, with a deadline of Friday 29th February, inviting staff to enter their ideas for innovative products and services to improve the patient experience or service delivery.
 The winners will be announced at a prestigious Awards Dinner to be held on 16th April at the American Air Museum at Duxford, presented by Dr Phil Hammond, doctor, writer, broadcaster and comedian.
Prizes totalling £20,000 across the four categories of Medical Technology, Software/ICT, Service Delivery and Diagnostics/Therapeutics will be presented on the night. There will also be special prizes, including one for innovative ways to tackle childhood obesity. Support will also be provided by NHS Innovations East to develop the winning ideas into new products or services.
Entry forms are available from: www.hee.org.uk
Medica makes the connection
A team from NHS Innovations East attended this year's Medica exhibition in Dusseldorf in November as part of a joint stand with other NHS Innovations Hubs. This was to promote the work of the Hubs, highlighting how they can help develop ideas coming out of the NHS.
Medica is the leading global exhibition for the medical sector, attracting thousands of visitors from around the world each year.
Dr Paul Seabright, Head of Business Development at NHS Innovations East said: "Over 60 contact sheets were completed and these leads forwarded to the appropriate Hub contacts, including those for innovations from Hubs who were not present on the stand. A further 55 business cards were collected as potential leads.
"A total of six Hubs manned the stand: NHS Innovations East, Medipex, RTC North, NHS Innovations South-East, NHS Innovations South West and TrusTech, with 17 staff helping to fulfil the busy rota. Feedback from those attending was very positive and a number of follow up meetings were arranged by staff from all Hubs based on initial contacts made at Medica."
'Ideas for Health' celebrates creativity
Outstanding new medical devices, software solutions and service delivery improvements - put forward by NHS staff working in the East of England - are featured in a new book published by NHS Innovations East.
 Entitled 'Ideas for Health', it contains 56 pages of innovations entered for the last Innovation Competition, all of which have the potential to benefit the experience for patients.
Winning ideas include an activity table to help staff working with patients suffering from confusion, an electronic booking and list management system for dealing with general emergency and orthopaedic trauma theatres and a new technique to help destroy soft tissue tumours.
Alan Barrell, NHS Innovations East Chairman said: "The launch of our third Ideas for Health book demonstrates once again the outstanding range of innovations which have come from NHS staff working in a wide variety of roles across our region.
"Our 2007 Innovation Competition attracted 81 entries and seeing all of these ideas in one volume highlights the creativity, commitment and enthusiasm of everyone who has taken their original idea forward."
latest innovations
The last few months have been a busy time for new ideas for products and services, put forward by NHS staff and developed by NHS Innovations East. Here are two recent innovations.
voice recognition software speeds up diagnosis
New voice recognition technology to allow the hands-free recording of pathology reports, leading to faster diagnosis and treatment, has been created by a Consultant Histopathologist at the Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust in Harlow and the company Hands Free Computing Ltd.
 Dr Salam Al-Sam helped tailor the UK Pathology Edition Software by adding over 600 pathology specific voice recognition commands, over 1000 words to the pathology dictionary and aiding Hands Free to complete the product user manual.
NHS Innovations East helped to broker the relationship between the Trust and Hands Free Computing, a company based in West Sussex who specialise in voice recognition solutions. This has resulted in the company exclusively licensing Dr Al-Sam's contributions for inclusion in their pathology software product.
launch of mobile cleaning unit brings brighter future
A new mobile unit to disinfect hospital equipment has been officially unveiled at The Norfolk and Waveney Mental Health NHS Partnership Trust in Norwich.
The idea, invented by two members of the Trust's staff - John Downes, a member of the estates team and Val Leggett, a nurse consultant in infection control - was developed with support from NHS Innovations East.
The unit is the first of its kind in the country and enables equipment, including beds, to be wheeled into the unit, disinfected and thoroughly steam cleaned. Its mobility is particularly beneficial for multi-site hospitals such as Norfolk and Waveney and it also means that noisy steam cleaning tasks can be performed away from the ward, preventing disruption to patients and their environment.
Robert Donald, one of NHS Innovation East's Innovation Managers, helped to develop the idea after it had been entered in its Innovation Competition by drawing up a Confidential Disclosure Agreement between the Trust and Kent-based Air Management Systems, by match funding the costs of developing a prototype with the Trust and negotiating the final licence with the company.
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meet the team: Stuart Thomson
Stuart Thomson has recently been promoted to Senior Innovation Manager after working as one of NHS Innovations East's team of four Innovation Managers for the last two years.
Stuart says: "As an Innovation Manager I was responsible for identifying, capturing and progressing innovations occurring within the NHS Trusts across the region.
"My new role will include progressing and collaborating my own projects, as well as commercialising them and managing a team on specific innovations.
"What I really enjoy about my job is the variety that each day - and each innovation - brings. It means liaising with inventors across the region, establishing relationships with potential commercial partners and ensuring that the whole project comes to fruition."
Stuart holds a BSc in Human Bioscience, an MSc in the Management of Intellectual Property and a Diploma in European Intellectual Property Law. Previous posts include Information Analyst at GlaxoSmithKline and Medical Information Officer for Infection Control at SSL International.
how can you progress your ideas?
If you would like to find out more about NHS Innovations East and how it can help to develop your ideas, why not contact Tracy Coultas,
Customer Liaison Executive? Tracy will be happy to come along and talk to your staff or attend an event you may be organising.
Email tracy.coultas@papworth.nhs.uk or call her on 01480 364925.
contact
If you would like further details on HEE and how it can help you, please contact Maggie Lewis on 01480 364925, or email
maggie.lewis@papworth.nhs.uk
or visit: www.hee.org.uk
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