OAHSN Locality Meeting: Milton Keynes and Bedford
The second in a series of OAHSN Locality Meetings was held on Tuesday 26 March 2013. Thank you to all who attended. We were delighted to be accommodated by the Open University (OU) in Milton Keynes, who jointly hosted with the Milton Keynes Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. It was a well-attended event with approximately 40 people coming from across Milton Keynes, Bedford and beyond representing health, academia, private business and local authorities.
The meeting was an opportunity to further engage with our existing partners and encourage new ones, as well as updating all on the activities of the Network, and to hear about the positive work taking place around innovation at the OU, the University of Buckingham and other partners.
Professor Tim Blackman, Pro VC at the OU and Joe Harrison, Chief Executive of Milton Keynes Hospital NHS FT opened the meeting. Updates were then given by the Network from our recently appointed Chairman, Nigel Keen along with Sir Jonathan Michael, Vice Chair and Chief Executive of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust and Dr. Nick Edwards, our Wealth Creation Programme Lead.
This was followed by a thought provoking innovation update by Dr. Clive Savory, Senior Lecturer in Technology Management at the OU. A discussion was then had, led by Martin Wetherill, Medical Director, Milton Keynes NHS FT and Chandi Ratnatunga, Clinical Programme Lead for the Network, which also included an interesting presentation on research into possible impact of hip prosthetics from Oliver Pearce, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon atMilton Keynes Hospital NHS FT and an update on the wider research activities at the Trust from Mr Peter Thomas.
After this a Q&A session was held, with topics ranging from engaging with NHS students on their work around healthcare innovation; highlighting and sharing ‘best practice’ and making sure we engage with those from across all sectors. It was clear from the feedback that there is a continued significant enthusiasm for the work of the Network and an eagerness to work together for overall mutual benefit.
Martin Wetherill and Dr. Liz Clark, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Health and Social Care, OU brought the meeting to a close.
The next Locality Meeting is being planned for Oxfordshire and we will circulate further details soon. Please note that we have a number of other events coming up including BioTrinity in May and Venturefest Oxford in June – please visit www.healthinnovationoxford.org for details of these and all our other latest news.