Blogs

As a trained audiologist, I’m used to helping people communicate.

It is a brilliant skill to have and one I have called on frequently as part of my work as a Programme Manager with the Innovation Agency.

My role is to help encourage the spread and adoption of innovations in Lancashire and south Cumbria. 

As difficult as the pandemic has been, the Enterprise and Growth Team here at the Innovation Agency have had our busiest year ever, working with nearly double the number of companies we worked with before COVID-19.

Reflecting on a year like no other in health and care has been a time to re-evaluate our role in supporting our local systems, partners and national NHS commissioners.

I love where I live: Wirral is an amazing place with wide-open sands and great views of the Welsh hills just over the River Dee. I’ve been grateful for having this on my doorstep, especially over the last 18 months or so.

Hello, my name is Mandy, and I am a biomedical scientist. In April 2020, a couple of weeks into lockdown, I was redeployed to a national COVID-19 operational supplies team, joining colleagues from NHS England and Improvement and the Department of Health and Social Care.

Adopting and diffusing innovation across the system must form the foundation of a strategy to meet the demands we face as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 has impacted on how we live and work and so we ask: ‘What do we need to do now to create the culture in our organisations and across our systems that keeps people resilient, connected, and innovative?’  

In Malcolm Gladwell’s book ‘The Tipping Point’ he states, “Ideas and products and messages and behaviours spread like viruses do,” which is a truly insightful observation.

After seven and a half productive and happy years at the Innovation Agency, I am moving on to be the Managing Director of Leeds Academic Health Partnership. This is a similar role to my current one and I applied for it as I have a passion for working in collaboration with partners to achieve better health and well-being for the people we serve.

Before working in the NHS, I always presumed patients’ medical records were stored on computers for all health professionals to view, until a visit to A&E taught me otherwise.