Team Winner: Edel Siney, Andy Byrne and Brian O’Ceallaigh Upper Limb Rehab App
Runners up:
Ally Russel, Dr Muhammad Tariq and Maura Rice Helping children learn through play at an early age to manage and control their asthma and allergies
Jacopo Villani, Ita madden, Mary Kennedy, Ciara Ridge, Mary Byrne, Peter O’Reilly, Petra Daly and Doreen Carpenter Travelling Towards Mental Health Equity
Applications close 30th June 2021. Applications for limited number of HSE scholarship close 16th June 2021.
Over the 12-month programme, students complete eight modules, have access to workshops, resources and events to share challenges and experience, learn from expert guest lecturers. Focusing on new health solutions, students gain a practical understanding of applying new technologies in healthcare. Examining the role of health economics, quality improvement and the principles of governance in leading effective, innovative health services is a key learning. The postgraduate course culminates with modules seven and eight focusing on a practical project comprising two phases. Students are supported to identify and implement an innovative solution suitable for their workplace that will have a positive impact in Irish healthcare. Graduates of the Postgraduate Diploma in Healthcare Innovation form part of a year-on-year a growing network of national Innovation Champions.#
If you missed the info and Q&A webinar series, links to watch all four are below. Each session delivered insight from a graduate of a different background , course lecturers and the course tutor.
Yellow Schedule has developed a solution to ensure expectant mothers can attend a 20-week anatomy scan with their partners at Cork University Maternity Hospital (CUMH).
Working with Health Innovation Hub Ireland (HIHI) and CUMH, Yellow Schedule created a customised version of its scheduling software to address issues such as bottlenecks related to the flow of patients and consistent and timely contact tracing of patients.
The system works by sending a text message to the expectant mother ahead of her 20-week scan inviting her to bring her partner. Both then get a Covid-19 screening questionnaire, which allows the hospital to identify any patients with potential risk factors.
A QR code is then sent to both the expectant mother and her partner allowing them to scan into the hospital for the appointment. This reduces the potential for queues and ensures staff have a record of who has attended.
HealthTech ‘golden age’ is born of the challenge of a lifetime
The HealthTech Ireland Annual Conference heard that innovation will lead to a near future where technology is central to personalising patient experience and saving lives
Roisin Kiberd
16th May, 2021
5
Dr Patricia Harrington, deputy director of health technology assessment, Hiqa; Jim Dowdall, strategic advisor, Irish Life Health; Jim Joyce, founder and chief executive, HealthBeacon; Martin Curley, director, digital transformation and open innovation, HSE; Rosemary Durcan, chief executive, Athena Life Sciences Consultancy Ltd and board member, HealthTech Ireland; and Ray Cahill, chair, HealthTech Ireland and territory vice-president international, Change Healthcare
In 2020, facing one of the most challenging years in living history, the healthcare sector had no choice but to embrace innovation, making use of technologies including machine learning, telehealth and remote monitoring tools. The adoption of digital healthcare has accelerated to such an extent that governments are now having to take stock of its impact, and plan for its future.2021’s HealthTech Ireland Annual Conference took place online, gathering experts in the field to reflect on this cultural shift. The programme of keynotes, panels and case studies reflected the sector’s renewed interest in innovation and connectivity; with the theme “Igniting innovation through collaborations”, the conference brought together policy makers, clinical leaders, patient advocates, researchers and other industry insiders to discuss advances made in technology and engineering, and the future of Irish healthcare.
Delivering the morning keynote address, Mike Burrows, national coordination director for AHSN Network, UK, spoke on models for spreading and scaling innovation throughout the healthcare system.
Part of an NHS-funded organisation implementing an end-to-end model for development, support and deployment of innovations at a local and national level in the UK, Burrows outlined lessons taken from their work. “It’s not something that can be delivered remotely; it’s all about building trust, and relationships with teams,” he said. “It’s important that there’s not only evidence of efficacy, but that there’s a solid value proposition there that’s either cost-neutral, or that can release resources.”
David Toohey, CEO of Synchrophi Systems, delivered a case study titled ‘How intelligent automation is changing healthcare’. Discussing the challenges and costs associated with adding more hospital beds, a problem which has long affected Irish hospitals, Toohey went on to discuss an ambitious plan to reduce the length of hospital stays, improve efficiency among hospital staff, and reduce treatment costs through use of intelligent automation.
Cloud computing holds a lot of potential to deliver ‘patient-centric’ care – speaking on the subject, Mark Finlay, head of public sector for the Republic of Ireland for Amazon Web Services (AWS) said that third-party research indicated that “From a cost perspective, our clients aren’t going to invest up front… they can basically turn their infrastructure on and off when they need it.” Citing benefits to scalability and security posture, Finlay said the cloud also delivers dramatic improvements to agility.
Dr Andrew Jones, head of clinical innovation at AWS, said that cloud can also aid in securing mission-critical environments, delivering improved reliability. Remote health technologies, like dermatology scanning software SkinVision, use cloud technology to power their machine vision, monitoring potentially dangerous conditions in patients remotely.
Justin Carty, chief executive, HealthTech Ireland Association; Sarah Murphy, chief executive, iQuest Ltd; David Toohey, chief executive, Syncrophi Systems; and Pat O’Mahony, chair, Hiqa, chief executive, Mapat Management Consultants
The first panel of the day was on partnerships, innovation and collaboration models in Ireland at present. “We’re seeing more and more that as we move into new areas, there’s more scope for innovation,” said Professor Martin O’Halloran, co-director of BioInnovate Ireland, naming historically underserved areas of medicine, including mental health and patient-centred care, as areas that would benefit from further innovation.
“Allowing people to participate in innovation often allows people to become innovators too,” said Tanya Mulcahy, interim director of Health Innovation Hub Ireland. “We couldn’t keep up with the number of ideas, and people calling us daily during the pandemic. What was fantastic was that this system – procurement, the general healthcare setting – wanted solutions, and wanted to be involved. It hasn’t gone away, and it won’t go away in future either.”
Deirdre Glenn, head of life sciences at Enterprise Ireland, spoke on the post-covid commercial challenges facing Irish healthcare. “So many companies adapted and pivoted in order to cope with the pandemic,” said Glenn. “Where possible, our clients pivoted into supporting medtech and into the production covid-related products.”
Some developed hand sanitisers and PPE, while others worked on developing a digital transformation programme. “Companies need access to people with regulatory experience, while with Brexit it’s the supply chain.”
Enterprise Ireland fosters a culture of innovation, providing training programmes and supports as well as opportunities to collaborate with the third-level community.
Frank Keane, CEO of Vitalograph Group, delivered a case study on scaling innovation. Discussing the development of a device called the Vitalojack, a system for cough analysis, Keane said “What we learned is that SMEs can diversify in innovation… I think that’s very important. Generalists tend to survive far longer than specialists.”
On a panel on commercial challenges facing health tech scale-ups, Sonia Neary, CEO of Wellola, named access as a particular challenge. “I think it’s underestimated, just how much work and time goes into getting a product safe and ready to sell.. you have to make sure your product is fit for use in a clinical context, and that it’s evidence based.”
Taking this product to market is also a challenge; “What happens to a lot of SMEs like ourselves is that they have to go abroad, and get validation, before they can come back and sell in Ireland.”
Another panel took a detailed look at the process of evaluating new technologies for healthcare. Rosemary Durcan, CEO of Athena Life Sciences Consultancy Ltd and a board member of HealthTech Ireland, said: “I think the way forward is in partnership. The time is now to push how we evaluate medtech under the market access umbrella. If we can identify what values the patient is looking for, and the staff, then that’s a great place to start.”
Jim Joyce, founder of HealthBeacon, said that the first step should be accepting that in Ireland at present there is a problem – and an opportunity – relating to adoption of new health technologies. “There’s a procurement process that was built for another time,” Joyce said, “It’s currently safer to procure from larger companies rather than small innovative companies. There’s a leap of faith required.”
Chris Coburn, chief innovation officer of Mass General Brigham, delivered the international keynote address, speaking on innovation and trying new technologies in the US healthcare system.
“The pandemic has created new opportunities and has accelerated the rate of change,” said Coburn. “It’s the right science, it’s the right team and it’s the right time. This is the golden age, and will be for the next few years.” Investing in 47 different early-stage life science companies, Mass General Brigham has experienced significant success among venture capital firms managed by academia.
Coburn was followed by Mary Day, chief executive at St James’s Hospital in Dublin, who spoke on the process of integrating research and innovation centres on the St James’s campus.
“We’re looking at growth in demand, growth in population,” Day said. “There has been additional funding, post-Covid. Recruitment has increased, but retention remains an issue.” Working towards creating an ‘Academic Health Science Campus’ (AHSC), St James’s recently received a Public Service Innovation Award.
The final panel of the day discussed collaboration and cooperation. Michelle Sullivan, head of public affairs, UK and Ireland for Boston Scientific, said “We’re now at a moment where we need to act, in a less panicked fashion but still at pace, in order to maintain quality of service because so much has changed over the last year.”
Sullivan said that business transformation should come from the top and the bottom of a business at the same time: “Organisations like ours have to be working on the ground to help everyone implement change successfully.”
Neil Dover, country manager of HP Ireland, said that HP has developed a team specific to healthcare: “We’ve seen innovation, some of it forced upon us, and some of it which has changed lives around the world, like 3D printing.”
Healthcare professionals have faced the challenge of a lifetime over the last year; the challenge at present is to retain these gains, learn from them and continue to innovate. The HealthTech Ireland Conference looked to a near future where technology is intrinsic not only to making healthcare more efficient, but to enhancing personalising the patient experience, potentially saving lives in the process.
The HSE-HIHI Spark Ignite 2021 Innovation Workshops have been awarded external continuing professional development (CPD) approval from the Royal College of Physicians Ireland and continuing education units (CEUs) from an Bord Altranais agus Cnáimhseachais na hÉireann. The current cohort of Spark Ignite participants, representing 36 different projects for solutions to unmet needs in healthcare, are receiving training in the innovation process and learning the skills required to bring their ideas towards reality or implementation. The added benefit of the CPDs and CEUs formally recognises the hard work of the participants and their commitment to improving the healthcare system for the patient, their colleagues, and for themselves.
The regional finals of the competition are taking place on the 31st May, 2nd and 3rd June, and the national final takes place on the 16th June.
We are delighted to announce our next webinar in our series of Health Innovation Hub Ireland Webinars entitled “Investment- how to get it and what to avoid”.
We will be joined by guest speakers Dr Cepta Duffy, Enterprise Ireland, Michael O’Connor, Cork BIC, and Kevin Kelleher, Ostoform.
Congratulations to all of the students of the 2019/20 class of our Postgraduate Diploma in Healthcare Innovation with Trinity College Dublin, who graduated last Friday. A fantastic network of Innovation Champions driving the the health innovation agenda nationally.
Applications for September enrolment now open.
Information webinars and Q&A sessions
Information webinars for September 2021 enrolment will begin Wednesday March 31, offering prospective students the opportunity to find out more about the course. In each session you will hear from an expert in the field of healthcare innovation, receive detailed information about the course content, and hear from past students of the course. You will have the opportunity to ask questions and speak with facilitators of the course.
Through the one year, Health Innovation Hub Ireland (HIHI) and TCD Postgraduate Diploma in Healthcare Innovation programme students are supported to develop a personal innovation framework for leadership. Uniquely the course is clinician designed and led by Professor Seamas Donnelly. Students are usually a mix of health industry, health sector and health policy, forming an action focused learning community focused on accelerating change within their organisations.
Over the 12-month programme, students complete eight modules, have access to workshops, resources and events to share challenges and experience, learn from expert guest lecturers. Focusing on new health solutions, students gain a practical understanding of applying new technologies in healthcare. Examining the role of health economics, quality improvement and the principles of governance in leading effective, innovative health services is a key learning. The postgraduate course culminates with modules seven and eight focusing on a practical project comprising two phases.
Students are supported to identify and implement an innovative solution suitable for their workplace that will have a positive impact in Irish healthcare. Graduates of the Postgraduate Diploma in Healthcare Innovation form part of a year-on-year a growing network of national Innovation Champions.
Applications close June 16 for HSE scholarships and June 30 for general applications. More here: https://www.tcd.ie/medicine/clinical-medicine/postgraduate/healthcare-innovation/
Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris T.D. today launched officially the Smart D8 initiative and call for pilot project to respond to community health challenges. Led by Dublin City Council, Smart Dublin, the Digital Hub Development Agency and St James’s Hospital, Smart D8, is the latest Smart District – a collaborative initiative to improve the health and well being of citizens in Dublin 8 through innovation. HIHI is pleased to partner on the Smart D8 initiative.
Bringing together public authorities, academia, healthcare, citizens and industry, Smart D8 applies a people-centred approach, with the engagement and active participation of the local community at its core. In late 2020, the first SmartD8 Community Survey was launched, capturing the needs and priorities of the local community. The call for innovative pilot projects that address three key areas are based on these findings:
Mental Health – Focused Call
Innovative approaches to managing mental health for individuals. Tools to support good mental health in the community including diagnostic, preventative, treatment, support and management solutions.
Population Health Management – Focused Call
Chronic Disease Management solutions that will allow people to manage their chronic health conditions in the community.
General Preventative Health solutions that can be implemented in a community setting to maintain good health and wellbeing.
Covid-19 Impact – Open Call
An open call for innovative and scalable solutions that will address the impact of Covid-19 on the health and wellbeing of the community in Dublin 8.
Who Should Apply?
The pilot call is open to all public and private sector organisations, companies and academia who:
Offer innovative and scalable products, services or devices.
Provide new practices/solutions/perspectives that address an unmet need in the community.
Have a solution that is ready for deployment within the next 6 months as a pilot initiative that will commence in 2021.
Provide a solution that can be enabled by a co-creation and collaborative approach.
Why Apply?
Opportunity to pilot and demonstrate the scalability of your offering in a community setting.
Access to a unique collaborative ecosystem with established clinical, academic, public and private sector engagement.
Funding support available for selected pilots.
Project management support.
Marketing and promotion support.
Access to free workspace in Dublin 8 during the pilot period.
Application Process
Companies must submit a completed application form available at the link below.
Pilot Call opens on 10.03.2021 and closes for applications at midnight on 28.04.2021.
Your submission will be reviewed by Smart D8 and an expert panel. A shortlist of applicants will be selected and shortlisted companies will be asked to make a presentation.
An update on the call outcome will be provided to all applicants on 19.05.2021.
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