Health innovation is an exciting and dynamic area with a range of stakeholders from all sectors working collaboratively to position Scotland as a world leader in health innovation, to contribute to a thriving economy and support faster adoption of innovation across health and social care.
Scotland is already recognised as an innovative nation, boasting a world class NHS, world-renowned universities and research strengths, a high levels of investment in R&D and a number of internationally innovative health companies operating in Scotland. As one of the largest employers in the country, with some 160,000 staff across 14 regional health boards, NHS Scotland has a rich talent pool. Past innovations are testament to this.
Way back in 1956 Professor Ian Donald, an obstetrician, teamed up with an engineer, Tom Brown, to take an instrument used to detect industrial flaws in ship welds and transform it into the first ultrasound scanner. The technology that this prototype is based on is now in daily use across the globe.
During the 1970s, scientists at the University of Aberdeen, led by Professor John Mallard, built the first full body MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scanner and by 1980 they were able to produce the first clinically useful image of a patient’s internal tissues.
Graham Watson of Scottish Health Innovations Ltd
In the process, they created a diagnostic tool that has revolutionised the detection of disease in the soft tissues of the human body. It too, is now in common use around the world.
Some of the world’s most important drug discoveries have also been made by Scots – salbutamol to relieve asthma attacks, beta blockers used to treat heart conditions and the world’s first artificial vaccine against hepatitis B infection, to name a few.
Then, of course, pre-dating the NHS, we have a Scottish bacteriologist, Alexander Fleming, discovering penicillin.
It is a proud history but continued commitment to innovation and improvement is needed to ensure the health service continually evolves.
NHS Scotland faces the same challenges affecting healthcare systems around the world.
Shifting demographics, growing demand and financial pressures mean new approaches to care are needed, delivering better patient care while simultaneously improving quality and efficiency, releasing savings through increased productivity.
Recent advances in technology also present huge opportunities to build more effective, fit-for-purpose, patient centered health and care services.
“Doing the same things we have always done, in the same ways we have always done them, is no longer an option.
Ian Robin of Glasgow with a prosthetic hand from Touch Bionics, a success story in innovations that originated from NHS employees
The convergence of a number of dynamic forces – new and emerging technologies, new ways of connecting people and new ideas from around the world and across sectors – creates exciting opportunities for breakthroughs in how health problems are solved” comments Graham Watson, Executive Chairman, Scottish Health Innovations Ltd.
Scottish Enterprise highlighted this point in its recently refreshed 2017 Life Sciences Strategy, Scotland’s ‘Innovation ready unified health service’. So how is innovation actually supported across NHS Scotland?
Tapping into existing talent is a huge opportunity. It’s often noted that those best placed to devise new ways of improving patient care are usually those working at the heart of our health service. They have expertise and insight into potentially game changing ways of doing things.
In an effort to tap into this potent source of innovation and creativity, Scottish Health Innovations Ltd (SHIL) was set up in 2002 to work in partnership with NHS Scotland. Its role is to identify, protect, develop and commercialise healthcare innovations from health professionals.
It aims to uncover transformational ideas from within the health service, then provide a systematic approach to supporting innovation.
It starts with evaluating ideas, and a robust selection criteria is used to identify innovations that will best improve patient care. Factors such as NHS resources, market size and technical feasibility are all considered. The novelty and inventiveness involved is an important criterion since it is the basis upon which the intellectual property involved can be protected, and is a key factor in making the product a commercial success.
Under UK patent law, the NHS automatically owns the right to any intellectual property created by healthcare professionals working within NHS Scotland.
However, any revenue generated from commercialising ideas and innovations put forward by healthcare professionals, is shared with the originator and the health board concerned, through a bespoke NHS Inventor Award Scheme.
This is an important part of SHIL’s work. Working on the principal that anything that has commercial value needs to be protected as soon as possible, so that the originator benefits rather than someone who simply copies the idea, SHIL helps health boards and health professionals navigate the IP process understanding what is involved in applying for patents, trademarks, copyright and design rights.
SHIL will also determine whether a product has the potential for further iterations and development, and support the process of spinning out a company to commercialise the product to produce and market healthcare innovations that originated from NHS Scotland employees.
There are many success stories – Touch Bionics, Aridhia, Aurum Biosciences, Ambicare, Cardio Precision, Clear Surgical have all been set up to to produce and market healthcare innovations that originated from NHS Scotland employees.
A variety of products and technologies that make significant, positive change in patient care are now also in routine use such as The Ambulance Child Restraint (The ACR®) an innovative system for the safe handling of young patients being transported in ambulances. Developed by the Scottish Ambulance Service it is has now been widely adopted by ambulance services throughout the UK.
The skills involved in achieving such commercial success are not necessarily the typical skills you would find in a health board – the ability of SHIL to support innovation and commercialisation activity nationally is evident and as the only organisation set up to work alongside NHS Scotland on commercialisation activity it provides confidence and reassurance to the health workforce.
Given that time pressure can be one of the biggest barriers to bringing an idea or innovation forward, providing project management expertise is another essential part of SHIL’s work. The team takes care of the day-to-day management, working on behalf of the inventor to drive projects forward.
The partnership model is well established with NHS inventors valuing the ongoing support. As the only organisation set up to work in partnership with the NHS on commercialisation activity, inventors know their invention is safe with SHIL.
For example, Paul Swinton, Inventor of SCRAM Bag, and a paramedic with the Scottish Ambulance Service comments: “As a paramedic with a full-time career it would have been a real challenge for me to bring this project to completion, if not impossible. Knowing the SHIL team were on top of the day-to-day management of the process, was a real weight off my mind.”
Actively supporting healthcare professionals to be innovative helps capitalise on the talent, entrepreneurial skills and commitment of staff members.
It also helps to uncover transformational ideas right across the health service. Ultimately this improves the quality of healthcare, helps to develop new and improved treatments for patients and ensures that NHS Scotland remains at the forefront of medical advances
“Advancing innovation is a clinical and cost imperative. Already, robotic surgery, 3D printing, implantable devices, and other digital and technology enabled innovations that target prevention, monitoring, and treatment, are showing potential to improve outcomes and reduce costs. In addition, new R&D approaches, big data and analytics are creating opportunities for innovation,” comments SHIL’s Watson.
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