The School of Nursing and Allied Health at LJMU is hosting international delegates from the Netherlands, Belgium, Hungary and Portugal as part of their commitment to HELIUM – a European partnership working on innovative solutions to health care problems while promoting best practice.
LJMU joined the partnership in 2016 and with the Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) have established a regional stakeholder group (RSG) in Liverpool working to identify good practices in health innovation from the city region.
They have also been working to develop a sustainable living lab infrastructure where people with long-term health conditions can work alongside health professionals and product designers to develop products, technology or apps, which can assist them in their daily lives.
The team at LJMU have now submitted 10 good practices to a policy learning platform in Interreg Europe, which will also be available to the public.
The top 10 initiatives include Acorn Cofoundery, Innovation Agency Scout Programme, Centre for Collaborative Innovation in Dementia, eHealth Cluster, STOPandGo, Health Technology at Scale, Health Service Innovation and Design, Digital Hubs and Champions, LCR Combined Authority Single Investment Fund (SIF) and ORCHA.
Health care professionals, academics and innovators from their European partners are visiting Liverpool this month to find out more about the top ten projects in action in the city and look at the possibilities of implementing them in their own region.
The delegates have expressed particular interest in Acorn Cofoundery, which is a partnership involving Alder Hey innovation hub that supports health tech start-ups; and Innovation Agency Scout programme, which encourages employees in public sector organisations to support new ideas within health care.
The aim of the shared Helium network is to meet the needs of the population by creating cost-effective and sustainable solutions to health care problems, shaping international health care policy.
LJMU subject lead for mental health and head of the centre for collaborative innovation in dementia Grahame Smith said: “At a time when health care services are stretched due to an aging population and limited resources it’s important that we are able to work together to provide inventive cost-effective solutions, which support patients, families and staff – a key aim of the HELIUM project.”
The delegates will be visiting The Walton Centre, Aintree University Hospital, Alder Hey Innovation Hub and the new Life Sciences Accelerator at the Royal Liverpool hospital during their stay.
The aim of the project is to strengthen good practice in action and provide health care solutions to meet local needs.