And last but not least, this year we have celebrated five years of Health Innovation Manchester! 

Over the past five years, Health Innovation Manchester has been at the forefront of transforming the health and well-being of Greater Manchester 2.8 million citizens. The mission has always remained the same – to become a recognised international leader in accelerating innovation, working alongside stakeholders to discover, develop and deploy new solutions, whilst addressing health challenges and inequalities.  

Partnership is at the core of Health Innovation Manchester’s portfolio of work and through strong relationships and collaborative working, expertise from across the system has improved the delivery of care at pace and scale. 

Reflecting on five years of Health Innovation Manchester, Julie Halliwell, Associate Director HR & OD at Health Innovation Manchester noted how she was struck by how much has been achieved within our organisation by working collaboratively across the Greater Manchester system.

She said, “For our fifth birthday, I reflect on the amazing things we have achieved internally and for the citizens of Greater Manchester, working collaboratively with others, and wonder what more we can do in the next five years working together. It’s exciting!” 

At number 2, we celebrate the publication of our 2021-22 Impact Report. 

The report, entitled “Transformation through Innovation”, showcases the breadth of innovation activity that has taken place across Greater Manchester’s health and care system over the last year. 

Within this impact report you find out more about our activity during the past year, including patient stories, expert opinions and case studies from across our portfolio of activity. It includes the  continued success and development of the GM Care Record, the launch of a ground-breaking study into implementation of a new cholesterol treatment and how digital technology is transforming primary care in GM. 

The report features a spotlight on each of Health Innovation Manchester’s key pillars including: 

• Data Science, Pathway Analysis and Transformation – with the rollout GM Care Record now supporting the care and treatment of over 140k citizens each month and research supporting Greater Manchester’s response to COVID-19. 
• Conduct traditional trials and real-world studies – including partnering with industry on a pioneering study to test a novel cholesterol-lowering treatment in the community. 
• Place-based transformation – with Cities Changing Diabetes exploring Greater Manchester’s challenges and opportunities to improve care for diabetes as part of an international collaboration. 

Access HInM’s 2021-22 Impact Report here.  

In October, Health Innovation Manchester were delighted to announce the sponsorship of two places on a digital health course at The University of Manchester. 

The online course entitled “Digital Health & Technology Enabled Care” aims to introduce health care professionals to the range of existing and emerging technologies used in health and care, along with an increased understanding of the benefits, limitations, and risks of these digital tools across care settings. 

Health Innovation Manchester recognises the importance of boosting digital capability in Greater Manchester’s health and care system, and to enable this we sponsored two places. 

Congratulations to the two successful applicants, and we look forward to hearing about their experiences, what they have learnt and how they will be applying their new knowledge in practice. 

Tackling health inequalities is a key priority for Greater Manchester, and HInM is working together with collaborators and partners to address major challenges and tackle inequalities throughout the region. 

In October, we were delighted to announce that The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Manchester Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) was awarded £59.1 million in research funding – the largest single research award given by the NIHR to the city region.  

This funding will be used to translate its scientific discoveries into new treatments, diagnostic tests, and medical technologies to improve patients’ lives in Greater Manchester, and beyond, over the next five years. 

Part of nearly £800 million awarded to 20 new Biomedical Research Centres across England by the NIHR, Greater Manchester’s award is part of a significant boost to the city-region, increasing the coverage of early-stage research across the nation and ensuring everyone has access to cutting edge clinical trials. 

Professor Ben Bridgewater, Chief Executive of Health Innovation Manchester, said: “The announcement of this substantial funding for the NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Facility (BRC) is of huge importance to addressing the many health challenges and inequalities affecting the city-region and beyond. The level of investment and the partners involved are also a demonstration of the expertise here in Greater Manchester. We look forward to the results of this work transforming care for patients in Greater Manchester and across the North West of England”. 

See more information about the Manchester BRC on their website.  

This year, a series of educational resources were produced in a collaboration with patients and between Health Innovation Manchester, The AHSN Network, Health Education England eLearning for healthcare (HEE elfh), the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and the Royal College of Surgeons of England, to increase awareness of breast cancer prevention, for both patients and clinicians, by improving and increasing the use of educational resources within this field. 

Health Innovation Manchester led on this work after receiving an educational grant for the production of the educational resources, which includes a Health Education England eLearning module, a podcast produced by the RCGP, a screencast written by Dr Toni Hazell, General Practitioner and eLearning Development Fellow at the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and a second podcast produced by the Royal College of Surgeons of England. 

Cath Barrow, Senior Programme Development Lead, Delivery & Development Team at Health Innovation Manchester, noted: “This has been one of the most rewarding projects to work on with fantastic and passionate healthcare professionals who are dedicated to raising awareness through education on the importance of breast cancer prevention.  Education plays such an important part in supporting women who may be at risk of breast cancer and the resources produced will hopefully provide the opportunity for patients and clinicians to discuss this important topic more openly.” 

For number 6, we honour the 16 outstanding NHS clinicians and researchers who were named MAHSC Honorary Clinical Chairs for 2022.   

The MAHSC Honorary Clinical Chairs are awarded on an annual basis by The University of Manchester’s Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health Promotions Committee. They are awarded to individuals from across Greater Manchester who have made a major contribution to their clinical specialty, including excellence in research and education. There are now 86 MAHSC Honorary Clinical Chairs. 

As an Academic Health Science Centre, MAHSC is designated by NHS England and NHS Improvement and the National Institute for Health and Care Research for demonstrating excellence in health research, heath education and patient care. In April 2020, MAHSC was designated for a further five years until 2025 in recognition of the exceptional and world-leading health research partnership between the Greater Manchester’s NHS and academic organisations.  

MAHSC brings together The University of Manchester, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, and the Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust to deliver innovation through research domains aligned to Greater Manchester’s areas of research strength and population needs. 

Find out more about how we are uniting leading healthcare providers with world-class academics and researchers through MAHSC.  

At number 7, we reflect on the importance of bringing funding to Greater Manchester to support our health system, drive innovations and reduce inequalities across the region.  

Back in March, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the NIHR announced a rapid new Mental Health Research Initiative to tackle the disparity between regional needs and mental health research activity. As part of this, the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Greater Manchester (ARC-GM) and the NIHR Greater Manchester Patient Safety Translational Research Centre (GM PSTRC), were awarded over £1 million in funding. 

The money will be used to support some existing research and fund new projects that aim to improve outcomes for people with mental ill health. This will benefit people who have harmed themselves, children and young people struggling with their mental health, and will aim to improve community engagement. The impact of COVID-19 will also be investigated.  

Read more about each project that will be supported through the funding here.  

For number 8, we celebrate our partnerships with industry, from start-ups to global players, to address major challenges and deliver population health improvements.  

Back in February, results were published from an exciting MedTech project taking place in Manchester, in a collaboration between Health Innovation Manchester, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT), The University of Manchester, and global heart technology company Medtronic. 

The study with Medtronic was the first of its kind, and one of a series of specialist healthcare collaborations underway in the city. The project looked to determine if remotely monitored physiological data from cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) could be used to identify patients at high risk of mortality.   

As part of this work, the SmartHearts evaluation, a project piloted by Health Innovation Manchester and the clinical team at Manchester Heart Centre together with Medtronic, collected data from over 400 patients with Medtronic cardiac devices showing patients at increased risk of adverse events, including hospitalisation and death. 

Using remotely monitored health-data from the cardiac device (known as TriageHF), the study, published in Europace, reported a three-fold increase in the likelihood of mortality for patients who spent at least one day in high-risk status. Increased time spent in a high-risk status is associated with higher risk of mortality. 

By identifying problems earlier, interventions can be put in place to provide people with appropriate heart failure therapies to avoid their condition further deteriorating. 

Read more about how HInM engages with the full spectrum of the life sciences sector. 

Coming in at number 9, we celebrate our international collaborations to drive digital health technologies and improve patient care.  

In early 2022, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) joined partners from around the world as part of the Smart Hospital Alliance (SHA) to drive the expansion of cutting-edge digital health technologies for the benefit of our patients and communities. 

Facilitated and connected by Health on Cloud, a platform-driven company established by South Korean doctors, MFT was recognised earlier this year as a globally leading hospital for digital health technologies, and has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Alliance. 

As part of the alliance, Manchester was chosen by Health on Cloud as their first physical centre of operations outside of Asia, bringing this opportunity to the Oxford Road Corridor innovation district where they will be located with MFT’s partner Bruntwood SciTech at their Circle Square Tech Incubator.  

Read more about our HInM partners and collaborators.  

As an innovation organisation, our success is largely determined by our people – both current and new, and starting off at number 10 we celebrate our people.

2022 has been yet another year of growth, and we have welcomed 28 new colleagues to HInM across the business units; from business intelligence, to clinical leads, to health economists and project managers.

In February, HInM welcomed Professor Andy Ustianowski as the new Clinical Lead for Manchester Academic Health Science Centre (MAHSC). As MAHSC Clinical Lead, Professor Ustianowski is working to bring together world leading academic and NHS partners to drive health research.

Dr Gareth Thomas was also recently appointment as Digital Innovation Director for Health Innovation Manchester and NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care. Joining in the New Year, Gareth will lead the city region’s health and care digital transformation strategy and delivery of high priority activity, working with partners across all care settings to optimise digital transformation and the delivery of tech enabled new models of care.

We also congratulated Jenny Spiers, Head of Information Governance at Health Innovation Manchester, for 40 years of service in the NHS. Jenny has worked in significant roles across Greater Manchester’s health and social care system, helping to shape the delivery of care to its citizens, and back in September Jenny shared her thoughts and experiences in a HInM blog of a 40-year career in the NHS.

Read more about Our People at Health Innovation Manchester, and how we work together to accelerate innovation that transforms health and wellbeing.