Delight as our colleagues are shortlisted in hattrick of titles in this year's Bright Ideas in Health Awards

We are delighted to be named as a finalist in this year’s Bright Ideas in Health Awards.

Now in its 18th year, the prestigious awards celebrate the achievements of individuals and teams working within the NHS, industry and academia, who have risen to the challenge improving services provided to patients, either through a technical innovation or through better service delivery.

Hundreds of innovators from across the region submitted deserving entries across 10 categories.

Three of our colleagues are in the running for titles:

• Emma Leanne Lee - Autism Expert by Experience
• Dr Lynzee McShea - Community Hearing Screening for Adults with Learning Disabilities
• Charlotte Mutton - Specialist Lead Bereavement Midwife

Emma and Lynzee are in the Innovation and Improvement in Reducing Healthcare Inequalities category and Charlotte's shortlisted for the Innovation Champion Award.

They will find out if they have been successful in their bid for the prize at the Bright Ideas in Health Awards ceremony on Thursday, March 23, at the Hilton Hotel Newcastle Gateshead.

We are also supporting organisers, the Academic Health Science Network for the North East and North Cumbria (AHSN NENC), as one of the sponsors of this year’s event.

The full list of finalists in each of the ten categories are:

Demonstrating an Impact upon Patient Safety and/or Quality Improvement

• See and Treat Skin Cancer Service - County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
• ‘Hot’ Debriefing: Encouraging rapid post-incident team debriefing following medical emergencies and in-hospital cardiac arrests - Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
• 3D Printing in Trauma and Orthopaedics - South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 

Innovation and Improvement in Reducing Healthcare Inequalities

• Community Hearing Screening for Adults with Learning Disabilities - South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust
• Autism Expert by Experience - South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust
• Reducing the Physical Health Gap for People with SMI Through Digital Innovation - Health Call - Contribution to Sustainable Healthcare
• Northumbria Healthcare Manufacturing Hub - Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
• NHS Ocean - Healthcare Ocean and County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
• Continuous Remote Monitoring using Wearable Technologies - North Cumbria ICP

Development of an Innovative Device or Technology

• Halo Gravity Traction Device - The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Saving More Lives, Giving Transplant Organs Air to Breathe - ScubaTx Limited
• Point-of-Care Blood Test for the Pre-hospital Identification of Stroke Patients Suitable for Emergency Thrombectomy Treatment - Newcastle University and Pockit Diagnostics

Outstanding Industry Collaboration

• Saving More Lives, Giving Transplant Organs Air to Breathe - ScubaTx Limited
• Development of a New Hazardous Patient Transport Device - The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Innovations in Gastroenterology and Endoscopy - County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust

Digital Innovation in Health and Social Care

• Local Health Index - Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
• RAIDR Waiting Well Dashboard - NECS: A Care System Support Organisation and The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Sunderland Clinical Support Information (CSI) - Sunderland GP Alliance

Innovation in Clinical Education

• Human Factors and Civility Education to Engender Safety Culture Change  - South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Enhancing Care for Older People - North ICP (Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, Northumberland)
• MDT Fetal Wellbeing Education Programme - Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Cross-organisation Working to Deliver Research

• NCBD Stoma Programme: A medley of methodologies across organisations to deliver high impact commercial research - The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Food Insecurity in Adults with Severe Mental Illness - Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust
• Increasing research exposure to primary care practices and patient populations in Northeast England - The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Innovation Champion Award

• Charlotte Mutton, Specialist Lead Bereavement Midwife, South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust 
• Professor Ahmet Fuat, GP, Carmel Medical Practice, Darlington     
• Caroline Tweedie, Specialist Breast Care Nurse, Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust

Innovation Champion Team Award

• Northumbria Healthcare Manufacturing Hub - Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
• No-One Left Behind: Meeting the changing needs of palliative patients in the community throughout the pandemic and beyond - St Oswald's Hospice
• From Bench to Bedside: Collaboration between the NIHR Newcastle MIC and the North East Innovation Lab, part of Newcastle Hospitals - NIHR Newcastle In Vitro Diagnostics Co-operative (Newcastle MIC), The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

The winners of the 10 categories will receive a cash prize and support from innovation experts at the AHSN NENC to progress their ideas. 

This year’s headline sponsor is the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System (ICS).

Other sponsors include: County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust; Centre for Process Innovation (CPI); Health Education England North East (HEENE); North East Futures University Technical College; South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust; Sintons LLP; The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; NIHR CRN NENC; Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust; SME Centre for Excellence; Teesside University; NIHR ARC North East and North Cumbria; Sunderland University; and NECS.

To find out more about the Bright Ideas in Health Awards and this year’s finalists, visit: https://brightideasinhealth.org.uk/finalists-2022/