The North West Coast Academic Health Science Network (NWC AHSN) has highlighted several important business achievements in its annual report.
These include the development of the medicine optimisation programme, support for digital health solutions and self-management of care as well as the establishment of key international, national and regional partnerships.
Chief Executive of the NWC AHSN, Dr Liz Mear, said:
“This year we have successfully bid for the 100,000 genome testing project to the region, our work on atrial fibrillation and reduction in devastating strokes across the North West Coast. We have achieved this by working closely with key stakeholders in the region to build a comprehensive network of healthcare and industry experts, researchers and business professionals. We have also received support from local football clubs, sports personalities and senior innovation leaders.
“In a year of many highlights, I am delighted to announce that we are now working with over 100 healthcare related SMEs, building a comprehensive healthcare network and supporting many of these SMEs with a business assist programme.”
The NWC AHSN has awarded funding grants to organisations who have products and pathways to improve health of the population. This year, the funding awarded totalled £1.1million to organisations in Merseyside, Lancashire, Cumbria and Cheshire totalling for patient safety schemes, economic growth and digital health solutions. Last year, £856,000 was awarded to organisations in the NWC region.
Over the past year, the NWC AHSN hosted several major events, bringing together industry, health, local government and academic leaders from across the region and also international collaborators. Dr Mear said:
“From hosting our latest ecosystem event focussing on self-management of health conditions, to celebrating our first operational anniversary with an Innovation Celebration event at St George’s Hall, Liverpool, we have supported a range of new products and new ways of working to improve health of our residents.
“We are dedicated to supporting small businesses, whose products have the capacity to improve health and enable our residents to manage their own health conditions. One of the ways we do this is by networking organisations from healthcare and local government with various industry and academic partners to test out new ideas and products. We also support changes to the procurement pathways in health to enable the uptake of new technology in the region. ”
The NWC AHSN is based at Sci-Tech Daresbury along with over 100 other high-tech companies including the STFC Daresbury Laboratory and the Cockcroft Institute. It currently serves over four million people across the areas of Cheshire, Merseyside, South Cumbria and Lancashire.