Hosted by the University, and situated in the School of Medicine, the Merseyside and Cheshire Health, Innovation and Education Cluster (MCHIEC) is part of a national network of HIECs designed to speed up the dissemination and adoption of known innovations and research outcomes in healthcare through high-quality, training and education.
HIECs address the fact that while the NHS is very good at developing new ideas to improve patient care, they often require a more effective system for putting them into practice and ensuring their long term development.
One of the strengths of the HIEC is that they are not restricted by organisational boundaries in the same way that many traditional partnerships are. HIECs work across the range of sectors and have strong links with the NHS, higher education institutions, research and innovation organisations, and industry. Because of this, HIECs are able to work flexibly to ensure that good ideas become common practice across the NHS quickly and efficiently.
Christine Campbell, HIEC Lead Manager, said: “We have already begun to collaborate with a range of formal partners in the region, including Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention (QIPP) programmes that are central to healthcare delivery. Over the next few months we will develop further links with people active in research and innovation to better understand how we can systemically support the adoption of innovative practice into clinical care pathways.”
MCHIEC will be co-hosting a regional learning and networking event in October. The ‘Transferring Knowledge; Transforming Care’ event will bring together leading representatives from government, industry, the NHS, the international translational research community and education to share knowledge and ideas around effective systems of dissemination and adoption of innovation and research across the region.
The event will feature leading speakers from health, research, innovation and education, various master classes, panel discussions, exhibitions, and a NHS North West sponsored Excellence in Innovation Awards dinner.