NHS staff from across the region celebrated their success in Health Enterprise East’s 2007 Innovation Competition at a prestigious Awards Dinner held on June 7th, hosted by BBC Look East presenter Stewart White.

Health Enterprise East (HEE), the NHS innovation hub for the East of England, is based at Papworth Hospital in Cambridgeshire.

Outstanding healthcare innovations to benefit patients, in the three categories of Medical Technology, Software and Service Delivery, were put forward by staff working in a range of roles in NHS Trusts across the East of England.

Winners of the Weigao Group Corporation Award for Medical Technology were John Cockburn and Simon Wemyss-Holden from Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital NHS Trust for their Bimodal Electric Tissue Ablation, a new technique for the destruction of inaccessible soft tissue tumours.

Another team from Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital NHS Trust, comprising David Wilson-Nunn, Jane Strivens, Huw Purcell-Jones and David Chapman won The Scott York Innovation Award for Software for developing a web-based programme that allows clinicians to book emergency cases directly onto an electronic theatre list, saving both time and resources.

A Norfolk PCT team, Tristan Palmer, Bridgitte Shad and Meadhbh Hall, were joint winners of the third category of Service Delivery with the NHS Live Innovation Award for devising My Health Book and Health Action Plan Care Pathway, a tool for people with learning difficulties to help them keep relevant health information relating to history and current needs together. The other winners in this category, taking away the Nesta Challenge Service Innovation Award, were Carrie Tyler and Helen Langthorne from Essex Rivers Healthcare NHS Trust for designing an Activity Table for the distraction and therapeutic wellbeing of patients with dementia.

All first prizewinners won a specially engraved trophy together with a cheque for £3,000.

Second prizewinner for Medical Technology was: Hesham Al-Khateeb from the West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust who won the Smith & Nephew Innovation Award for Medical Technology, for his novel technique in collecting bone debris.

In the Software category, second place was taken by Rhonda Kempster from Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust who won the Keymed Innovation Award for Software for her Electronic Discharge Letter.

For Service Delivery, there were two second prizes: the Mills & Reeve Innovation Award for Service Delivery was won by Nicola Shaw, Nicky Murray and Anne Devenish from Luton & Dunstable Hospital NHS Foundation Trust for Flexikids ‘Fit ‘n’ Fun’ Physio programme. The Deloitte Innovation Award for Service Delivery was given for a project entitled ‘Improving Pregnancy Outcomes in Diabetes’ carried out by the East Anglian Study Group, led by Senior Research Fellow, Dr Helen Murphy which promotes the benefits of pre pregnancy care not only to primary and secondary healthcare providers, but also to women with diabetes.

Second prizes were a specially engraved trophy and a cheque for £1,500.

Commendations were also presented to two winners in each of the three categories by Dr Peter Blenkinsop, Chief Executive of HEE. In the Medical Technology category, Dr Salem Al-Sam from The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust in Harlow won a commendation for devising a new technique for preparing liquid bone marrow biopsy materials which should aid in diagnosis of the underlying disease. Also commended were Richard Eldred and colleagues from Norfolk Primary CareTrust for designing an ergonomic lightweight folding and portable kneeling stool.

In the Software category, a team from Essex Rivers Healthcare NHS Trust led by Barry Whitlow won a commendation for its Interactive CD-Rom Teaching and Training Programme on Cardiotocography (monitoring of the foetal heartbeat during childbirth). Cathy Forbes, Lorraine Hosey and Leanne Fishwick at Bedfordshire PCT were commended for their invention of a unique database application called ‘Are you getting enough?’ which calculates whether patients who have enteral feeds at home are receiving adequate nutrition.

For Service Delivery, a commendation was given to a team at the Peterborough & Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, in partnership with Whitemoor, who devised The Whitemoor Palliative Pathway for Patients in Prison, a comprehensive, descriptive care pathway and guidelines for those involved in the care of prisoners diagnosed with life-limiting illnesses. Sue Bayles, Healthy Living Development Manager at Mid Essex Primary Care Trust, and colleagues were also awarded a commendation in the Service Delivery category for their creation of a Healthy Living Solutions Community Interest Company to provide individuals and communities with the information and tools they need to adopt healthier lifestyles.

There were two special awards. The East of England Strategic Health Authority Prize for Innovation, was presented by its CEO Neil MacKay to Dr Suzanne Lane for her development of a musculoskeletal ultrasound service for inflammatory arthritis. She also received a cheque for £1,500.

The award for the Trust submitting the highest number of entries was won jointly by Norfolk & Norwich University Hospitals NHS Trust and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Kath Jones, R&D Manager at Norfolk & Norwich and Claudia Rizzini, R&D Manager at Cambridge, received the awards for their Trusts, together with a cheque for £1000 each to go towards research and development activities.

Dr Peter Blenkinsop, Chief Executive of HEE said: “Congratulations to all our award winners whose outstanding ideas fully deserved the official recognition they received at our ceremony. All of the innovations have a principal objective – to benefit patients.

“We would also like to thank our generous sponsors this year for their support and generosity, including NESTA, NHS East of England, NHS Live, Scott York, Weigao, Deloitte, KeyMed, Mills & Reeve, Smith & Nephew, Boult Wade Tennant, Stratagem and Cambridge Audio Visual.”

The Awards dinner was the culmination of HEE’s 2007 Innovation Competition which was open to staff across all NHS Trusts across the six counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. This year it attracted 81 entries.