How the Bright Ideas in Health Awards can really drive your innovation forward

18th September 2018 - By

Our newly appointed Innovation Manager Mark Taylor shares his perspective and experience on the Bright Ideas in Health Awards…

Within my previous roles in research and innovation the Bright Ideas in Health Awards have always been a key date in the calendar which helps to celebrate the success of the healthcare community and the new innovations and ideas which are coming through at various stages of development.  The event itself is a great place to hear all about what is happening across the region and learn how other Trusts, Pathway Partners and Organisations are working to get the best from the resources which they have.

One of the first steps to entering the Bright Ideas in Health Awards is to identify potential innovations, devices or key members of the team who would be relevant to be put forward for the awards.   From the entrant’s point of view if they are shortlisted they will:

  • receive good publicity around their innovation/device
  • receive assistance from the AHSN team to make sure that the publicity is also safe for their Intellectual Property (if this has not already been discussed)
  • have the chance to win an award.

If you apply and are not successful this could also lead to your innovation being noticed by one of the Innovations Managers and we will contact you to offer any assistance to help progress your idea and link you to the relevant person within your Trust to help you. Some of the ideas which come through might already have been trialed across the region and we can link you with that team to discuss how this went in their locality and understand if there is potential for adoption of their learning.

The list of previous winners goes to showcase the high level of innovation within the region with previous winners going on to gain recognition nationally and locally as well as making a positive impact on healthcare and the day to day working lives of many within NHS Trusts. So, the Bright Ideas in Health Award really does help to highlight a cross section of programs, devices, innovations and staff who help to enhance the NHS, healthcare and the patients experience in the North East and North Cumbria.

As the Innovations Manager within the AHSN NENC I view the Bright Ideas Awards as pivotal to the success of this role. The awards are a great way for staff across the region to put a spotlight on the great work which they are doing locally which could be used to help improve other areas. It also helps to identify unmet needs which we might already have the solutions to where we can link in someone to help fix this issue; it might even highlight an unmet need which there is no solution currently available which we can assist in collaborative working towards a solution which would benefit the NHS, patients and be able to be commercialised by the Trusts in the long term.