Clinicians from a wide range of backgrounds came together with patients and innovators from industry and universities at the first of seven partner showcases co-hosted by the Oxford Academic Health Science Network during May 2016.
In all almost 100 people attended the inaugural event which took place at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, on 9 May.
They were welcomed by Dr Bruno Holthof, Chief Executive of Oxford University Hospitals, who emphasised the importance of clinical collaboration in creating opportunities for innovators which will ultimately benefit patients.
Dr Paul Durrands, Chief Operating Officer at the Oxford AHSN, then set the scene with an overview of the breadth of collaborative work across the Oxford AHSN region.
Prof Sir John Bell, Regius Professor of Medicine at the University of Oxford, said the AHSN’s leadership was encouraging wider spread and adoption of innovative medicines, diagnostics, devices and digital applications that were making a difference to patients and reducing costs.
This was demonstrated in the wide-ranging presentations by the clinical leaders of some of the Oxford AHSN’s workstreams which included reducing incidence of catheter acquired urinary tract infections and acute kidney injury, improving secondary/tertiary referrals using a new app, improving detection of problems in late pregnancy and better image sharing across the health system.
In summing up Dr Holthof said the presentations demonstrated the value of the network in bringing clinicians and managers together to improve quality, outcomes for patients and efficiencies in the system.