Benefits
The Health Innovation Expedition is multi-faceted and introduces a range of outcomes mentioned above. The original aim for developing the course has been met - to introduce potential innovators to the innovation process, to understand how to complete disclosure forms appropriately, to facilitate better relationships with technology transfer staff and to be able to have the confidence and tools to be able to research a problem and develop a robust solution concept.
Other major aspects from the start was to develop better team communication and co-working among staff and students - breaking down silos. Understanding that research is not the realm of PhDs was also important to empower staff to undertake their own reviews and evaluations.
Additionally for organisations and institutions this course meets:
The Topol Review
To educate NHS workforce to understand innovation and be more receptive to new ideas as well as develop their own without duplication of effort - collaboratively.
The NHS Long Term Plan
A focus on increasing staff understanding of improvement knowledge and skills.
Teaching Excellence Framework
The course adds to the TEF for students at any level. Employability through understanding different markets, employment opportunities and communication and teamwork skills. The course was used at Sheffield Hallam University as part of the extra curricular innovation award recognised at graduation
Social Media
The course tends to cause quite a stir on social media while it is running. It is always fantastic to see how the teams bond and develop a real passion for their team projects - real clinical unmet need scenarios.
If you've been part of the courses and want to add your thoughts here please get in touch!
Talking Heads
Here are some of the students from the June 2018 cohort who have gone on to start careers in the NHS from Sheffield Hallam University talking about their experiences of the course.
In June and July 2023, we ran the course for the Allied Health Professionals Network in the East Midlands and Lincoln University researchers. This was a big event and has caused a huge positive stir in the East Midlands region. To see some of the feedback please click on the links below. These will open on the University of Lincoln website:
The Clients and Host Organisation Facilitators
I've delivered The Health Innovation Expedition for the Faculty of Health and Wellbeing at Sheffield Hallam University and for the Medtech Foundation & Translate:Medtech (a consortium from the Universities of York, Leeds, Leeds Beckett, Bradford and Huddersfield). Most recently I have delivered the course for Lincoln University and the East Midlands Allied Health Professions Network.
Wider Impact
The official launch event for the Lincolnshire Research and Innovation Hub - Lincolnshire Improvement for Everyone (LIfE) was officially launched at Lincoln University on 17th April 2024. The hub is a virtual place to bring together the Lincolnshire public, our health and care staff, our colleagues at our universities and other partners to grow research and innovation in our county for everyone’s benefit.
The Health innovation Expedition course I ran with Lincoln University in the summer of 2023, bringing together Allied Health Professionals from 9 different NHS organisations with researchers from the University to solve real problems in health and social care as teams has resulted in a range of benefits to the region:
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Teams are pursuing the development of the innovations they created during the course to address real clinical unmet need.
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The course has highlighted a training need and an appetite for innovation training across the East Midlands.
One of the outcomes from this event was the creation of the LIfE Hub. The course outcomes were just part of the catalyst, but it has been a great honour to have been part of this!
Acknowledgements
I have based this course on my personal experience of innovation in health. But it also uses a mix of different models including the Fourth Innovation model (Gijs van Wulfen), The Stage Gate Model (Robert G. Cooper) and Business Model Generation (Alexander Osterwalder & Yves Pigneur). I've had an enormous amount of support in being able to enhance the course with materials, case studies, videos and other content.
These people and people within organisations in particular have been amazing in enabling me to deliver a diverse and engaging course.
Full credit and acknowledgement is given in course materials to organisations who have helped and referenced to permitted use of copyrighted materials. It's basically a great (and free) means to promote your latest innovations and raise awareness about your organisation to the next generation of Medtech researchers and NHS staff.
Please note that the web links were correct as of October 2023! Thank you everyone.
School of Health, Wellbeing & Life Sciences, Sheffield Hallam University - School of Health & Social Care, University of Lincoln - Health Innovation North East and North Cumbria - Health Innovation East Midlands - Health Innovation Yorkshire and Humber - Tal Golesworthy, Exstent Ltd - West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust - South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust - NAViGO Health & Social Care CIC - The Kings Fund - The UK Intellectual Property Office - Zilico Ltd - Medilink North of England - Patient Experience Network - Moore Barlow LLP - ETC Toolkit - Solving Together - Black Mountain Pharma - Health Tech Enterprise Ltd - PCMIS Improving Patient Wellbeing (University of York) - Thrive by Design - NIHR Surgical MedTech Co-Operative - NIHR Research Support Service - Dr Dominic Petronzi, University of Derby - Docabode Ltd - Gijs van Wulfen - Tom Gould - Philippa Hedley-Takhar, Tribosonics - Thomas Wright