26.11.13
NHS Innovation Challenge winners to be announced
The winners of the NHS Innovation Challenge will be announced tonight (Tuesday, 26 November).
The full list of finalists can be found here, and the award of prizes is ultimately decided on by the health secretary, with advice from an expert panel of medical scientists, academics and ‘innovation experts’.
Writing in the Guardian, NHS England’s medical director Professor Sir Bruce Keogh said: “In healthcare, I would describe innovation as anything that creates new opportunities for improvement or development. As such, innovation can happen anywhere, at any time. It can come from any source and it can take any form. The key is that it has, at its heart, an opportunity to do things better.
“This has long been recognised in industry, where creating the right conditions for new ideas to thrive has been hard-wired into the culture of the top-performing organisations. The NHS has a lot of catching up to do to.
“That's not to say innovation isn't there – one look at the record numbers of high-quality entries in the last round of the NHS Innovation Challenge Prizes confirms that ideas abound at all levels and in all areas of the service. But the truth is we are still a long way from providing the right conditions for innovation to thrive and permeate across the NHS. There are a number of reasons for this, many of which revolve around the critical area of leadership.”
The challenge categories are as below:
Better management of pregnancy
Control of infection
Earlier cancer diagnosis
Identification and diagnosis of COPD
Improved diagnostic investigation
Medicines – reducing waste, increasing benefits
Receiving emergency care in the right place, first time
Reducing avoidable attendances in primary care
Reducing falls and falls injuries
NHS Improving Quality is responsible for the management and development of the NHS Innovation Challenges.
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