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23rd Jan 2017
A consultant paediatric surgeon at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital has won a gold award for his pioneering leadership of innovation.
Mr Iain Hennessey, Clinical Director of Innovation at Alder Hey, was presented with the first gold award as an Innovation Scout, part of a network across the North West Coast region run by the Innovation Agency.
The Innovation Scouts are senior clinicians, academics and managers who actively promote and support innovation among their colleagues, from ward to Board level.
They learn from other organisations, through events, visits and study trips organised by the Innovation Agency – the Academic Health Science Network for the North West Coast.
Awards were presented to 17 Innovation Scouts – a community set up two years ago by the Innovation Agency, who help to spread new ways of working within health care.
The Innovation Scouts are senior clinicians, academics and managers who actively promote and support innovation among their colleagues, from ward to Board level. They learn from other organisations, through events, visits and study trips organised by the Innovation Agency – the Academic Health Science Network for the North West Coast.
A total of six bronze and ten silver awards were made at the Innovation Scouts’ second anniversary event; and just one gold award was presented, to Mr Hennessey.
Mr Iain Hennessey leads an Innovation Team which is working with world leading companies and local small businesses, using gaming technology, sensors and cognitive computing to predict the progression of illnesses and plan individualised treatments.
Applying tiny sensors to the skin will avoid the use of needles to take blood samples; sensors will also wirelessly transmit biological information, avoiding the need to attach wires to a young patient. Alder Hey is pioneering the use of 3D printed body organs which can be taken into operating theatres, to help guide surgery; and they are helping to develop gaming and the use of artificial intelligence to communicate, entertain and reduce stress in child patients.
Mr Hennessey said: “Our aim is to be the world’s best hospital for children, using all the latest technology to take the fear out of coming in for an operation or appointment and also to provide the best possible care.
“I love my role as director of innovation – it allows me to work with companies who are at the leading edge of technology; to try out new kit such as virtual reality headsets, or visit a super computer and see how it crunches data to produce the best care plan for a patient.
“I am delighted to accept my Innovation Scout gold award – and I would like to pay tribute to the Innovation Agency who have given huge support to Alder Hey to enable us to realise our innovation ambitions.”
Innovation Agency Director of Research and Innovation Lisa Butland said: “Our Innovation Scouts are a fabulous asset to their own organisations and to the wider health system, spreading knowledge and introducing innovative new kit and approaches which they see working well elsewhere. Congratulations to them all – and thank you for working with us.”
The awards were presented by Mike Gibney, Director for Organisation Development at The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust.
Bronze awards were presented to:
Silver awards were presented to:
Alder Hey Children's Charity
