Medilink Midlands Patron Spotlight - Health Innovation West Midlands

Medilink Midlands offers Patronage to prominent organisations who recognise and demonstrate the importance of the medtech and life sciences sector, and appreciate the positive impact Medilink Midlands makes through our innovation support activities and diverse events programme.?

We are proud to highlight our Patron, Health Innovation West Midlands', positive impact to the sector.

Who we are

Health Innovation West Midlands (HIWM) are part of a national network of 15 organisations, who collectively act as the innovation arm of the NHS.

The West Midlands has the fastest growing population in the UK, which has seen an increase of 40,000 in the last year, remaining the second largest population in the UK. The West Midlands also has a unique population – a large and stable, diverse ethnic population and demographic mix, which provides a perfect platform for medical research and clinical trials.

How we can help

We bring stakeholders together across all sectors involved in healthcare, including social care and public health, research and industry to support the development of transformational health innovations and accelerate the adoption and spread of improvement solutions demonstrated to deliver patient benefit.

Four areas of focus have been developed to support these aims:

Leading through convening

Working with academia, industry and healthcare, we will strengthen relationships and partnerships, and facilitate collaborations to the benefit of the region and its citizens. We will work to bring partners together to support the development and adoption of innovations for patient benefit and promote innovation opportunities to improve health outcomes locally, regionally and globally.

HIWM partners with several regional assets such as Birmingham Health Partners, WM Health Technology Innovation Alliance, Bayer, SCC, WM Cancer Alliance, WM Research Delivery Network, research active Universities, WM Growth Company, WM Applied Research Centre (WMARC) and the West Midlands Secure Data Environment.

Supporting the workforce of the future

We will develop and nurture an agile workforce that can respond to the current and emergent needs of the region and is representative of the people which it looks to serve.

HIWM provides a number of education programmes in Wound Care, CVD (cardiovascular disease), New Technologies, Managing Deterioration, Polypharmacy, PSIRF, Maternity Care and Appreciative Inquiry across Social, Primary, Secondary and Tertiary sectors. It also provides education and training for NHS and Commercial Innovators, supporting them to develop their innovations with advice on regulation, IP, commercialisation, funding and pathway management. HIWM also provides specific support to Digital, Social Enterprise and FemTech innovators.

Delivering evidence-based interventions to improve health and wealth

We will act as the focus for supporting innovation in the West Midlands. We will provide stakeholders with a framework in innovator support services, accessible through our innovation exchange platform. This will enable innovators and local entrepreneurs seeking assistance, to access a comprehensive set of services aligned to the national network.

HIWM utilises the most evidence-based innovations to improve patient care. Working closely with WMARC, HIWM provides an initial diagnostic for innovators, an innovation framework for NHS organisations, real world evaluation service, knowledge mobilisation and a deployment framework to ensure adoption at pace and scale.

Delivery at pace and scale

We will work with partners and stakeholders to develop the necessary skills, resources and agility to engage with and adopt innovations at pace on a local, regional or national footprint. We will work with industry, commissioners, the network and stakeholders to overcome barriers to the adoption of innovation, sharing learning and knowledge gained from evidence-based methodologies for adoption and spread.

HIWM has developed an Innovation Framework to support innovations from ideation through to wide scale deployment. Focused on the key areas of innovation development of discover, develop and deploy, HIWM is supporting innovators to reduce the current development cycle and support the NHS to adopt evidence-based innovations at pace and scale.?

Through embedding posts in the major assets across the Region, HIWM can facilitate the development of innovations through identifying NHS test beds, sources of grant and venture capital funding, regulatory support, safe access to data and academic partners.

Our impact

Musculoskeletal MSK

The project explored an innovative digital solution (Phio Access and Phio Engage) to address the rising demand for musculoskeletal (MSK) care, which surged beyond capacity following the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to longer waiting times.

Key challenges included:

• Increased wait times, heightening clinical risks due to delays in treatment and lack of comprehensive medical screening.
• Limited pathway efficiency, with Advanced Physiotherapy Practitioners spending excessive time triaging patients instead of providing direct treatment.
• Lack of recurrent funding for digital tools, hindering widespread adoption and long-term sustainability.

The usage of Phio Access and Phio Engage in one ICS resulted in 1,470 hours, across two NHS Trusts MSK services, being released to face-to-face triage and treatment.

Butterfly Network Inc.

In the West Midlands, we are seeing a huge push to improve advancements in ultrasound technology. By enhancing diagnostic capabilities, ultrasounds will improve patient outcomes and overall quality of care from the NHS workforce. One such initiative is the Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) project, designed to enhance patient care and streamline processes within the NHS.

POCUS, created by Butterfly Network Inc., is an independent device engineered for the rapid capturing of ultrasound images directly at a patient’s bedside, facilitating timely diagnostic evaluation. It represents a revolutionary advancement in diagnostics and patient management.

The aim is to provide healthcare professionals, such as nurses and physiotherapists, with the tools and knowledge to feel empowered making clinical decisions. This empowerment is critical in managing acute conditions such as joint bleeds in paediatric patients, where timely diagnosis and treatment are vital. With POCUS, immediate interventions can be provided, enhancing the patient journey.

Helen Hunt, HIWM Assistant Programme Manager, has worked closely with the Butterfly Network throughout the project and joined as a panellist at the Butterfly Network, Inc. Butterfly iQ3 launch event, held at The Gherkin in September. Read more here.

Hegenberger Medical

Hegenberger Medical is working to transform postnatal suturing, by introducing a retractor tool that will reduce pain for the patient and helps to reduce procedure time.

The tool is being distributed by Kimal, an innovative manufacturer and supplier based in the West Midlands.??

We are supporting pilots being undertaken at South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust and the Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust with a real-world evaluation, to test the impact of the instrument on patient experience and the clinical time it can potentially release.

Khamsin

Khamsin is a Stoke-on-Trent based company which has developed an automated scope cleaner, which ensures decontamination is environmentally friendly and reduces the chance of human error.

They are working with the endoscopy team at Good Hope Hospital (UHB), and our Human Factors Specialist, Fran Ives, is helping with the ergonomic validation.

Inclusive Health

Building on our successes of the last five years, during which we have supported over 200 social enterprise innovators through our previous programme, FUSE, HIWM has partnered with iSE and the Living Well Consortium to introduce a newly designed Social Enterprise Programme called Inclusive Health.

This programme aims to address gaps and promote health through the capabilities of social enterprises. It harnesses the potential of these enterprises to tackle health inequalities and aims to create a thriving ecosystem for social enterprise innovators.?

The Inclusive Health Programme seeks to drive innovation and generate a positive impact within the community and the region. It consists of three key phases: Ideator, Incubator, and Accelerator.

Get in touch

For more information about how HIWM can support organisations in the sector, visit their?website.

More information on Medilink Midlands Patronage is available here.