Support for Ideas to Improve Patient Care – Western Health and Social Care Trust Workshop Report
HSC Innovations in conjunction with the Western Health and Social Care Trust (WHSCT) Research and Development Office and the Clinical Translational Research and Innovation Centre (C-TRIC) recently delivered a workshop on ‘Support for Ideas to Improve Patient Care’ for members of staff in the Western Health and Social Care Trust.
Dr Maurice O’Kane, Director for Research and Development, WHSCT, welcomed the attendees and outlined the importance of research, development and innovation within the WHSCT. The attendees represented a wide range of clinical areas, and were able to learn about the research and innovation support available to them for developing their ideas to provide a solution to improve patient care.
Sally Doherty, R&D Manager, WHSCT, covered the support available from the WHSCT R&D office for developing your idea, in particular the support available for the pre-application stage, i.e. sponsorship, funding and design of the project protocol. A number of the current projects underway in the trust were highlighted and these included:
- Use of Neutral network and Routine Biochemical evaluations to predict acute kidney injury and associated adverse outcomes
- The robust assessment of Vitamin B12 status among older adults with and without type 2 diabetes – analysis of methylmalonic acid (MMA): method development and validation
- Development of micro-RNA expression analysis in prostate biopsy samples – a pilot biomarker study
 Sally Doherty, R&D Manager, WHSCT |
 David Brownlee, Innovation Advisor |
David Brownlee from HSC Innovations presented an overview on intellectual property (IP) within a healthcare setting. This included the areas of what is IP, the value of IP that arises from research and clinical practice and the policy relating to it. There was also an audio-visual clip demonstrating examples of global healthcare innovations from the clinical and research base, in addition to local examples of healthcare innovation such as the world’s first portable cardiac defibrillator (see ‘The World’s First Mobile Defibrillator’ here).
Interactive case study group work
The attendees also split into groups for an interactive healthcare case study on IP and developing ideas to improve patient care, prior to a comprehensive summary of the support available to researchers and clinicians from HSC Innovations, and what you should do if you have an idea or a potential solution for an unmet healthcare need.
Barry Henderson, Business Development Manager, C-TRIC, then finished the workshop with a summary on the support and services available from C-TRIC, in particular links with academia and business. Barry also highlighted the C-TRIC managed programmes which are aimed at encouraging healthcare innovation. These included Bioentrepreneur and TMED Health Challenge. Further information on these programmes can be found on the C-TRIC website.
Feedback from the attendees indicated that they particularly found the following to be useful:
- Case study/small group work on IP
- Contacts and facilities for support
- Where to go to if you have an idea
- Encouragement to develop new or existing ideas
- Practical examples and success stories
Dr O’Kane said he hoped the presentations from Sally Doherty, Dr David Brownlee and Barry Henderson would encourage staff to submit their innovative ideas which could be further developed for the benefit of patients, clients, and staff and overall improve the quality of service provided throughout the trust.
Already as a result of the workshop there has been an increased number of enquires to HSC Innovations and to the trust Research & Development Office, which is very encouraging.
Other workshops will be delivered over the coming months, so please check the events section of our website for details.