Over 400 local citizens help to shape health innovation in GM as part of the HIA programme
Over 400 local citizens from diverse community groups, ethnicities and faiths across Greater Manchester have taken part in a major initiative to support Health Innovation Manchester and its partners in identifying the key barriers and enablers to healthcare screening access, as part of the Health Innovation Accelerator programme.
The Health Innovation Accelerator has been established to rapidly improve the diagnosis and treatment of disease across the 2.8m Greater Manchester population, across multiple projects delivered through a partnership between Health Innovation Manchester, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT), The University of Manchester, and industry partners.
A cross-cutting theme across this work has been co-production and engagement activities with communities, with the overall aim of empowering the public, particularly those facing the greatest health inequalities.
By working with people from socio-economically deprived and ethnically diverse backgrounds, including those experiencing digital poverty or exclusion, work across the Accelerator has progressed with a greater understanding of how the health and care system can improve access to screening opportunities for patients, whilst improving health outcomes for people at high risk of disease and ultimately save lives.
Nicky Timmis, Public and Patient Involvement and Engagement Manager at Health Innovation Manchester said: “The Health Innovation Accelerator is all about tackling health inequalities, but we can’t deliver this in isolation from the people, patient groups and communities most affected. So public involvement and engagement is a cross-cutting theme, the golden thread throughout this programme.”
Our work with communities
To facilitate this public co-production and engagement work, Health Innovation Manchester collaborated with Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) groups, industry partners, healthcare providers and academic institutions, helping to conduct 22 engagement activities and events.
To date, this work has seen 428 citizens attend at locations across Greater Manchester, including Bolton, Rochdale, Stockport and Tameside, with a range of community groups including the South Asian community, the Jewish community, the Chinese community, the LGBTQ+ community, the Eastern European community, the White working-class community, the Black, African and Caribbean community, and those living in social housing or those at risk of homelessness.
These activities and outputs include:
- 2 peer-led communication events
- 2 co-creation events
- 7 engagement discussion groups
- 6 patient stories (case studies)
- 3 posters or infographics
- 4 blogs
- 6 videos
- 5 industry reports
- 1 digital exclusion dashboard
- 1 blueprint for engaging with underserved communities
To summarise this public co-production and engagement work, Health Innovation Manchester has produced a report which details the approach taken during this collaborative work with communities, summarising key insights, a methodology and recommendations.
Lauren Constable, Head of User Centred Design at Health Innovation Manchester, said: “It was brilliant to get out and hear directly from people across Greater Manchester as part of the Health Innovation Accelerator programme. Listening to their experiences gave us real insight into the challenges people face when accessing healthcare, and it’s really helped us think about how we connect with communities and how we can keep improving in this work. This has been our biggest community engagement yet – and it wouldn’t have happened without the incredible support of local community leaders.”
Health Innovation Manchester will also host a community roadshow with various groups across Greater Manchester who were involved in this co-production and engagement work in the coming weeks, to share and reflect on the findings of the report.
The Health Innovation Accelerator
The Health Innovation Accelerator encompasses two projects, the Advanced Diagnostics Accelerator and the DEVOTE programme, delivered through a partnership between Health Innovation Manchester, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT), The University of Manchester, and industry partners.
This project is part-funded by the Greater Manchester Innovation Accelerator programme. Led by Innovate UK on behalf of UK Research and Innovation, the pilot Innovation Accelerators programme is investing £100m in 26 transformative R&D projects to accelerate the growth of three high-potential innovation clusters – Glasgow City Region, Greater Manchester and West Midlands. Supporting the Government’s levelling-up agenda, this is a new model of R&D decision making that empowers local leaders to harness innovation in support of regional economic growth and help attract private R&D investment and develop future technologies.
