Support for Ideas to Improve Patient Care – Western Trust Workshop Report
On 6th December 2013 HSC Innovations in conjunction with the Western Health and Social Care Trust (WHSCT) Research and Development Office delivered a workshop on “Support for Ideas to Improve Patient Care” for members of staff in the South West Acute Hospital, Enniskillen.
Dr Maurice O’Kane, Director for Research and Development, WHSCT, welcomed the attendees and outlined the importance of research, development and innovation within the trust. 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 trust R&D office for developing your idea, in particular the support available from the pre-application stage, i.e. sponsorship, funding, design of the project protocol, submission of an application for research governance approval through to the stages of management of the project and final stage of project closure and dissemination of results. A number of the current projects underway in the Trust were highlighted and these included:
- A registry of high risk patients with coronary or peripheral artery disease
- Examining the differences in how residential facilities support people with intellectual disabilities with challenging behaviour and/or mental health problems
- Prospective longitudinal study of assisted peritoneal dialysis compared to haemodialysis for frail older patients with end-stage kidney disease
- Identification of molecular biomarkers to neo-adjuvant chemotherapy in early stage oesophageal adenocarcinoma
David Brownlee, Innovation Advisor, HSC Innovations, Sally Doherty, R&D Manager, WHSCT, and Maurice O’Kane, Director for R&D, WHSCT
Dr 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.
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.
Dr O’Kane said he hoped the presentations and the case study 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 and 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.