Big Rewards for front line innovation in the South West NHS

An event was held in Exeter last week to congratulate 29 new South West NHS innovators who were collectively awarded more than £1 million of funding from the Regional Innovation Fund. The event was organised by HIEC South West to support individual learning needs and to provide a place where the project leaders could collaborate and share resources. Each innovation had been created by members of front line staff across the South West NHS. A full spectrum of staff including nurses, doctors, surgeons and managers used their experience to create new ideas for better patient care.

Projects were given funding from £8,000 to £240,000 to use to implement their idea or explore it further. The Regional Innovation Fund was established to offer frontline health care staff the opportunity to turn their ideas for quality improvement into action. The projects will be supported by the Health Innovation and Education Cluster for the South West which is managed by a partnership across many health and education sector organisations.

Peta Foxall is one of the board members for the HIEC and the events key note speaker said “This event aims to celebrate the success of these innovators in getting their projects funded, we will support them to build their skills and confidence and they will become our advocates for innovation across our region and probably beyond.”

The winning projects were the top 29 from the 230 bids across the NHS Trusts in the region and highlight the commitment and dedication from NHS staff to continual improvements in patient care. The innovative bids were received against many priority areas including mental health, long term conditions, primary care, reducing health inequalities, learning disabilities and the adoption of proven technologies.

The event provided attendees with the knowledge and resources they will need to make sure their innovations catch on and become part of standard practice. Fiona Pickering of NHS Bournemouth and Poole said “The resources available to the attendees are staggering, every speaker has world class knowledge and experience in their subject and the HIEC is committed to providing the right level of support to ensure that every project is a success, every person is valued, every penny is well spent and everyone knows that these innovations are available.”