Our name has changed to Health Innovation West of England
News
The Government and NHS England have relicensed England’s 15 Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) from 1 October 2023. To better reflect our role as the innovation arm of the NHS, our name has changed to Health Innovation West of England on this date. Celebrating our 10th anniversary this year, the AHSNs have worked locally and…
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Work to support ‘high impact users’ of emergency departments wins national patient safety award
News
We are a winner in the 2023 HSJ Patient Safety Awards for our work with local hospital trusts to improve outcomes for ‘high impact users’ of emergency departments. The SHarED (Supporting High impact users in Emergency Departments) programme was named ‘Urgent and Emergency Care Safety Initiative of the Year’ at the awards ceremony on 18…
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Study shines light on successes of PReCePT programme
News
The success of PReCePT, a programme to increase the use of magnesium sulphate to prevent cerebral palsy in premature babies, has been highlighted in a new paper published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. The paper shares the findings of the Health Foundation funded PReCePT study, part of the national PReCePT programme…
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New Director of Programmes announced
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We are pleased to announce the appointment of Pete Carpenter as our new Director of Programmes. This is a new position being established within Health Innovation West of England (formerly the West of England AHSN), as the organisation receives confirmation of a new five-year licence from NHS England to 2028. Pete will lead an integrated…
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Improving maternity care – lessons from scaling up the PReCePT programme
News
Enhanced quality improvement (QI) programmes may be necessary to support the adoption of best practice in maternity units with less developed integrated working practices, a new paper published in the Journal Implementation Science suggests. The research builds on ARC West’s evaluation of the AHSN Network’s national PReCePT programme, led by the West of England AHSN,…
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SHarED programme to support ‘high impact users’ of emergency departments shortlisted for national patient safety award
News
We are a finalist in the 2023 HSJ Patient Safety Awards for our work with local hospital trusts to improve outcomes for ‘high impact users’ of emergency departments (ED). Shortlisted in the ‘Urgent and Emergency Care Safety Initiative of the Year’ category, the SHarED (Supporting High impact users in Emergency Departments) programme was based on…
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Improving the management of high impact users in emergency departments: The SHarED programme
News
An NIHR ARC West evaluation of a programme to improve how ‘high impact users’ of emergency departments (ED) are managed, has shown the programme to be successful in reducing ED attendance and hospital admissions among these patients. The high-level results of the evaluation have been published in a West of England Academic Health Science Network…
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Anti-racist training in the Black Maternity Matters pilot shown to increase the cultural competency of maternity staff
News
Evaluation of the pilot phase of Black Maternity Matters shows the project has successfully helped to increase the cultural competency of maternity staff, with the value of the education and training programme demonstrated through both participants’ feedback as well as their resulting actions. Black women* are four times more likely to die during pregnancy or…
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Working together to reduce caesarean birth infections
News
The West of England AHSN is working collaboratively with the region’s six acute maternity hospital trusts on a new project to reduce surgical site infections (SSI) following caesarean births. In March 2023 the first wave of four trusts launched their use of the locally developed PreCiSSIon (Preventing Caesarean Birth Surgical Site Infection) care bundle. The…
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Reducing high blood pressure health inequalities
News
The West of England AHSN has been supporting the region’s Integrated Care Systems (ICS) and a number of Primary Care Networks (PCNs) to adopt a new framework for optimising blood pressure. The framework seeks to improve patient safety by effectively managing high blood pressure and reducing heart attacks, strokes and cases of vascular dementia. This…
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