NHS Innovation Centre may encourage new technology

Michael Wilkinson, Assistant Director of Strategy at the Cabinet Office and head of the Health Industry Task Force (HITF), outlined the plan at the ASSIST conference at Aston University yesterday.

“There’s a lot of opportunity for innovation in the NHS, but it’s largely untapped,” he said. “Ideas come from people working at the coalface, but most of these ideas are lost. The NHS Information Agency has all these ideas that are just not being developed."

“We do have some really good innovations on a regional level, but other hospitals don’t know about them as they’re not sold up on a national level. The NHS doesn’t act like a national organisation."

“Most doctors and nurses don’t want to run a business. Within the Innovation Centre, we will help people create a business model, and help them take their innovations through the invention pathway. They will have access to lawyers, accountants, and so on."

The HITF is a joint venture between the DH and the DTI, and the Innovation Centre is intended to be a cross-government, cross-sector initiative.

Wilkinson and the HITF have been working on the proposals for the past 18 months, and he estimates that the Innovation Centre will require an initial investment of around £25m over two years. The profits that are made from the sale of intellectual property can then be reinvested back into the NHS.

The HITF has found that technological innovations are also not being developed because many people are afraid to test new ideas. “One of the biggest changes we have to make is cultural; there is a whole culture of risk aversion. If we are going to be innovative, we have to understand that failure is not a bad thing."

Wilkinson hopes that the Innovation Centre will “bridge the gap between industry and the NHS” and solve the “lack of understanding between innovators and venture capitalists."

The HITF is expected to make its final report towards the end of October.