Aaron Cummins opens the Health Innovation Collaborative
The incoming chief executive of NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria has urged health and care leaders to strengthen cross-sector partnerships to help the region tackle its most intractable challenges.
Aaron Cummins was opening the latest Health Innovation Collaborative conference, organised by Health Innovation North West Coast to bring together decision-makers from healthcare, industry and academia.
“The demands on our system are increasing, our challenges are mounting up, especially as we care for an ageing population and need to reduce health inequalities in our communities. The people of Lancashire and South Cumbria are looking to the people in this room to see us through these challenges,” said Mr Cummins.
“It is really important that we build on our strong partnership working across the NHS, local authorities, health and care and voluntary and social enterprise sectors to improve health outcomes for our residents and reduce health inequalities. We also need to develop partnerships across a range of sectors including pharma, medtech and industry to maximise every opportunity for innovation.
“We need to work together to help us shift to more proactive and preventative health interventions in communities and neighbourhoods. We should be seeing queues at the door of an organisation such as Health Innovation North West Coast who can help drive that innovation.”
Mr Cummins, who takes up his new role officially in November, was addressing an audience at the University of Lancaster’s Health Innovation Campus that discussed ways that health and care organisations in the region can engage industry to improve the adoption and spread of innovation.
Dr Phil Jennings, Chief Executive of Health Innovation North West Coast, said: “It’s been a privilege to hear and be part of some of the conversations we’ve heard today.
“What comes through loud and clear is that there’s a strong sense of pride in Lancashire and a hunger to succeed in an area with some very powerful and successful manufacturing operators.
“Heath Innovation North West Coast is committed to supporting Lancashire and South Cumbria and the conversations the region is having about innovation, research and collaboration – in fact, we’re really excited about the opportunity to work with the region in future.”
The conference opened with a session in which Andrew Cooper, Clinical Director at Health Innovation North West Coast, and Senior Programme Manager Charlotte Hall described how we have helped shape the region’s innovation ecosystem.
The first panel session, hosted by Rebecca Richmond, Director of advanced analytics specialists Optum, explored this theme further. Panel members were Charlotte Hall, Linda Olubajo, Senior Business Relationship Manager at Edge Hill University, Stephen Sandford, Chief Allied Health Professions Officer at NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB, and Health Innovation North West Coast Non-Executive Director Amanda Thornton.
The next panel discussion, chaired by Health Innovation North West Coast Director of Business Development Tony Woods, focused on the work of the Lancashire Innovation Board. The panel included Mike Kenny, Associate Director of Innovation and Industry Partnerships at Health Innovation North West Coast, Rollie Attard, Chief Executive Officer at specialist fabric manufacturers Pavaz, and Trudi Waldram, Innovation Engagement Manager at Innovate Lancashire.
Dr Phil Jennings then interviewed StJohn Crean, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise) at the University of Lancashire, about his academic and healthcare career.
Finally, an innovator showcase gave a platform for regional innovators to highlight their contributions to tackling healthcare challenges. They were:
- CCI Photonics, a Lancaster University spin-out that specialises in identifying infectious disease in a patient within 15 minutes.
- Isla Health, a digital platform for remote patient care that can reduce administrative pressures.
- Maywoods, a digital company that specialises in shared record analytics
- NROL, a neuro-rehabilitation service for stroke patients based at East Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
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