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Our new licence identifies the AHSN Network as ‘the innovation arm’ of the NHS and so we welcome the emphasis that the NHS Long Term Plan places on the need to speed up adoption and use of innovation across the health and care system.

Here’s an update on some of the work we’re doing in Yorkshire and the Humber that supports the Long Term Plan’s ambition for research and innovation to drive future outcomes improvement.

Part of our role as an AHSN is to spread and embed innovations that have been identified as beneficial for the NHS through a number of national programmes such as SBRI Healthcare, the NHS Innovation Accelerator and the Innovation Technology Payment. The latest range of innovations have been identified by the Accelerated Access Collaborative.

Innovations for ‘rapid uptake’ through the Accelerated Access Collaborative

The Government is providing £2 million to give more patients access to proven innovations through the Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC). We are delivering this programme in Yorkshire and Humber.

Seven innovative technology areas were identified by the AAC that improve patients’ lives but are not currently available to everyone who could benefit. This first batch of ‘rapid uptake’ products was selected by leaders in the health and care system and includes a range of treatments for conditions identified as clinical priorities within the Long Term Plan such as cancer, heart disease and multiple sclerosis.

The rapid uptake products are:

• Heartflow – A non-invasive personalized cardiac test that reduces the need for unnecessary procedures
• Placental growth factor (PIG-F) based testing for suspected pre-eclampsia – tests for early diagnosis of pre-eclampsia in pregnant women, which if unmonitored, can cause serious complications for mother and baby.
• PCSK9 inhibitors for treatment of primary hypercholesterolaemia and mixed dyslipidaemia – Cost-effective drugs that significantly lower cholesterol.
• High sensitivity troponin tests for early rule out of myocardial infarction (acute) – Diagnostic tests that detect whether or not a patient is at risk or previously had a heart attack.
• Quantitative faecal immunochemical tests for colorectal cancer – Diagnostic tests that reduce referrals for patients with suspected colorectal cancer.
• Cladribine (Brand name: Mavenclad) for treating highly active relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis in adults – A drug for multiple sclerosis with a novel mode of action, high efficacy and a low treatment and monitoring burden
• Urolift for lower urinary tract symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia.

An example of how our investment in Yorkshire’s academic-health institutions can support industry and catalyse exciting research to improve population health is our support for the work currently being carried out by the Leeds Centre for Personalised Medicine and SomaLogic.

The Leeds Centre for Personalised Medicine and Health is recruiting patients to a Leeds ‘proteomics’ clinical trial, thought to be the first of its kind.

The trial involves a simple but comprehensive diagnostic blood test developed by US biotech company SomaLogic and follows the announcement of the company’s partnership with Leeds last year.

The trial will study the effectiveness of the test and how it can influence changes in people’s lifestyles to help prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes. If successful, it will then be rolled out across the city.

More information

If you’d like to find out more about our work to spread innovations across the region or are interested in adopting one of the innovation products mentioned above please contact:

Neville Young, Director of Enterprise and Innovation, neville.young@yhahsn.com

For more information about what we do and how we are supporting the delivery of the Long Term Plan please contact:

Kathy Scott, Deputy CEO and Chief Operating Officer, kathy.scott@yhahsn.com

Additional resources

Our response to the Long Term Plan
Leeds Centre for Personalised Medicine and Somalogic news story