News and blogs

The Innovation Agency’s Healthcare Business Connect (HBC) Programme is successfully supporting small businesses to make inroads into the NHS market, according to a report by Lancaster University.

Research conducted by Dr Kostas Selviaridis and Professor Martin Spring, of Lancaster University Management School’s Centre for Productivity & Efficiency, looked at the perceived quality and impact of the support small firms receive from the programme across Lancashire, Liverpool City Region and Cheshire and Warrington.

My placement has been a journey of opportunities to learn and gain experience. Working here at the Innovation Agency has enabled me to develop significant understanding about how much impact the Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs), especially the Innovation Agency, have on improving health and care through the spread and adoption of technology and innovation.

The Innovation Agency is part of a new network focusing on applied health and social care research.

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) new Applied Research Collaborations (ARCs) are based on the same regions as England’s 15 Academic Health Science Networks and the Innovation Agency will work closely with the North West Coast ARC.

Innovation Agency Chief Executive Dr Liz Mear has joined the main board of Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).

She is one of three new LEP main board members, appointed to help drive forward the city region economy. Liz’s role is as champion of the health and life sciences sector.Also appointed are Laura Pye, Director of National Museums Liverpool, as visitor economy champion; and Mike Hulme, Director of Alstom Transport UK, as advanced manufacturing champion.

A new approach to wellbeing is teaching emotional intelligence, resilience, empathy and self-awareness to schoolchildren in Cheshire – with the aim of helping young people improve their mental health.

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service is testing the pulses of vulnerable residents as a trailblazing partnership to detect cases of atrial fibrillation and prevent strokes spreads through the county.

A new round of funding is on offer through the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) Healthcare, focussed on cardiovascular disease and integrated care and social care.

Pharmacies in Cheshire and Merseyside are being notified by their local hospital when a patient is discharged who might need help understanding changes to their medicines following their stay. 

The Innovation Agency is urging people to know their heart rhythm during World Heart Week and will be testing pulses at Asda in Everton tomorrow.

Arrhythmia (an irregular heart rhythm disorder) is the number one killer in the UK and causes up to 100,000 sudden cardiac deaths each year, killing more people than breast cancer, lung cancer and Aids combined.

A 3D heart modelling service to rapidly diagnose coronary disease and an advanced blood test which can cut the time it takes to rule out a heart attack by 75 per cent are among a raft of health innovations being introduced for patients.

The Innovation Agency and fellow Academic Health Science Networks are responsible for accelerating the uptake of the technologies across England – with the Innovation Agency focussing on Cheshire, Merseyside, Lancashire and South Cumbria.