InnoScot Health launches informative webinar series for inspiring innovators

NHS partner InnoScot Health is pleased to announce that it is launching a series of informative webinars next month for all health service staff looking to develop fresh ideas.

The accessible, bitesize ‘lunch & learn’ sessions will be hosted on Microsoft Teams and will see InnoScot Health staff regularly sharing their deep knowledge and insights on the innovation journey, while also providing a platform for inspiring guest speakers.

The first interactive webinar, entitled Navigating the NHS Innovation Landscape with InnoScot Health, will be led by the organisation’s Head of Project Management Gillian Henderson and Innovation Manager Frances Ramsay.

They will be joined by guest Professor David Lowe, Clinical Director for health innovation at the Scottish Health and Industry Partnership (SHIP), emergency consultant at Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, and West of Scotland test bed lead. 

The free to join webinar takes place on Wednesday 1 March from 12 until 12.45pm. Please use the link here to register and you will receive details on how to join the session.

Gillian and Frances will focus on the process of encouraging NHS innovators and looking at how flourishing ideas, simple or complex, have the potential to transform healthcare delivery. They will also explain InnoScot Health’s role in that process and where the organisation sits in the national innovation landscape.

Professor Lowe will be discussing Scotland’s innovation test beds – how they are accelerating adoption of fresh ideas, progress to date, the criteria for getting involved, and how to gain access to the correct support when looking to do so.

Both segments will be rounded off by an opportunity to ask questions of the speakers.

Gillian said: “We’re delighted to confirm that our innovation webinar series will commence in March, offering practical advice on how to encourage and realise the true promise of fresh ideas for healthcare improvement. Lots of great topics and speakers are already lined up for the sessions that will follow and we’re looking forward to getting started.

“Our aim is for the series to be a very instructive, easily accessible, and interactive resource for healthcare innovators at all stages who are considering how best to deliver great ideas into patients’ hands, in turn easing post-pandemic pressures and supporting the NHS recovery plan over the next few years. That means solving problems now but also looking at how to embed advancement for the future.

“On the 1st of March, we’ll be kicking off with a look at ‘Navigating the NHS Innovation Landscape,’ encouraging our virtual attendees to discover how they can start out on their journey to transforming healthcare delivery. InnoScot Health will also outline its expert process and how it aligns with the wider innovation services across Scotland.

“The webinars will further offer bitesize information from experts and entrepreneurs to make the prospect of developing new ideas as straightforward and digestible as possible by bringing innovator journeys to life.

“Throughout the webinar series, there will be an ongoing focus on how to navigate important strategic areas including intellectual property, product development, and commercialisation, as well as hearing from the direct experiences of NHS staff who have leveraged expertise in those areas in order to take their ideas right through the process to adoption.” 

Professor Lowe said: “It is vital that we build a healthcare ecosystem that encourages entrepreneurs to flourish, and where adoption can happen at pace and scale.

“New ideas which come from NHS colleagues who understand the day-to-day issues best can help our healthcare system to transform in response to ongoing demand and workforce pressures, while encouraging greater sustainability. The test beds are designed to provide the infrastructure to support innovators developing, evidencing and delivering their idea.

“Therefore, I am grateful to have been given the opportunity of speaking further on that subject at InnoScot Health’s first innovation webinar. Fundamentally, we must better support the implementation of innovation for service change, and meaningfully accelerate its adoption here in Scotland.”