If you’d like to talk to us about how you are transforming your health services with data in your context, then do contact us.

North West Coast

The Connected Health Cities pilot project in the North West Coast is being delivered by the Innovation Agency, the Academic Health Science Network (AHSN) for the area.

We are one of 15 AHSNs set up by NHS England to act as catalysts for the spread of innovation; connecting businesses, NHS, academia, local authorities, third sector and other organisations to improve health and generate economic growth.

Our aims through Connected Health Cities are to:

  • Put in place the consent and systems needed to enable health professionals to use data to improve care
  • Develop a learning health system linking data, technology and health research to create a continuous cycle of improvement in patient care and public health
  • Develop ways health professionals can use their expertise to turn data into knowledge
  • Support front line staff to develop and monitor new and more effective pathways (programmes of care) for patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), epilepsy and alcohol misuse
  • Support industry, academia and others in using data that both improves understanding of health care efficiency and effectiveness and also enables new techniques, ideas and organisational systems to be tested
  • Create a culture that enlists the trust and active involvement of residents in the North West Coast

By connecting the information and knowledge held by the NHS, social care and other local authority services, systems can be planned and delivered more effectively. In the North West Coast, this exciting programme is being delivered by a group of organisations:

  • The Innovation Agency North West Coast
  • AIMEs Grid Services, a community interest company providing a secure data centre
  • The University of Liverpool
  • Lancaster University

We have also developed a structured programme of patient and public involvement, which includes having established a ‘Senate’ (assembly) of patients and members of the public who have an interest in healthcare and are passionate about having their say on how new pathways are created in relation to our areas of clinical focus – alcohol misuse, epilepsy and COPD.

The role of the Senate is to represent the views and experiences of patients and members of the public and to help drive the work of the North West Coast CHC.

We have a programme of clinical engagement involving an extensive network of clinicians and colleagues across the NHS. The programme will initially focus on unplanned admissions in alcohol related illness, COPD and epilepsy. These are areas of clinical concern within our region and we believe that the CHC programme will vastly improve care pathways for patients with those conditions.

For any queries please contact info@innovationagencynwc.nhs.uk.