Health Innovation Manchester, the organisation responsible for accelerating proven innovation into Greater Manchester’s health and social care services at pace and scale, welcomed national colleagues and delegates to its offices on Oxford Road in Manchester across two days.

The visit on Monday 21^st and Tuesday 22^nd March, provided opportunity to showcase the innovative work being delivered across Greater Manchester’s local health and social care system, as part of a national tour of the UK’s Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs).

Delegates including Matt Whitty, NHS England Director of Innovation, Research and Life Sciences and Chief Executive of the Accelerated Access Collaborative, Dr Tim Ferris, National Director of Transformation at NHS England and NHS Improvement, and Jacqui Rock, Chief Commercial Officer at NHS England and NHS Improvement, were joined by members of the Health Innovation Manchester Executive Team and Board, with colleagues from The AHSN Network also present.

The purpose of the visit was to showcase the work that is being delivered by Health Innovation Manchester and its partners across Greater Manchester, whilst analysing the impact of new innovations and pathways to support to the local health and care system.

During both the first and second day, various programmes and metrics from the Health Innovation Manchester and The AHSN Network portfolio of work was on display to delegates, highlighting core challenges, the role of AHSNs in delivery and how the Greater Manchester system has collaborated to deliver these innovations at pace and scale.

Ben Bridgewater, Chief Executive at Health Innovation Manchester, said: “It was a pleasure to welcome delegates and colleagues from our national partners to our offices on Oxford Road. Being able to showcase a wide variety of the work that we have being delivering to our communities across the system with partners was productive and highlighted key areas for growth, improvement and change.

“During the pandemic it became clear that our system must become integrated to fully support all patients who require care at all levels. As part of discussions over the last couple of days we have clearly outlined our strategy on how we intend to continue to support the acceleration of this integrated care approach to our work.

“As always, I am optimistic about what the future holds for our local health and care system, and I strongly believe that Manchester has the capacity to continue in delivering world-leading health innovation at pace and scale.”

Matt Whitty, NHS England Director of Innovation, Research and Life Sciences and Chief Executive of the Accelerated Access Collaborative, said: “Through research and innovation, we can improve patient outcomes and reduce health inequalities and so it is important to celebrate and spotlight their impact as we hope to do so today. Already over 1.4 million patients have benefited from our programmes.

“Ground-breaking commercial partnerships are supporting the introduction of innovative new treatments for cardiovascular disease and cancer, and we have programmes such as the Small Business Research Initiative helping the NHS develop technologies that support the NHS’s net zero ambitions.

“It’s a great pleasure to visit Health Innovation Manchester and meet those teams helping get some of the NHS’s most promising healthcare innovations to patients faster.”