The Primary Care Innovation Centre Blog November 2023 Edition:
“We Bought the Headsets!”
By Liz Leggott, Project Manager
17 November 2023
“We Bought the Headsets!”
By Liz Leggott, Project Manager
Soggy Doggy!
Well, it’s been a wet few weeks!! Hence my picture this month; that is one unhappy, soggy doggy. In all seriousness though I hope that those of you who have been affected by flooding in the past and those who are again on flood warnings are safe and dry. Whether you are a Greener Champion or not, this is definitely an indication of a change in our weather system.
Those of you who read last month’s blog will know that I was about to purchase headsets, charging cabinets and all the management and software licences we needed to make a real difference in our training to those receiving it. The orders are in, and I can’t wait to get my hands on them. The sticking point has been where to store them without a building! Well, there are a couple of options and I’m pursuing them both to see what suits the hub best.
Since the sign off of this purchase I’ve been helping to arrange training sessions that will actually be using it! We have a couple of Chaperone Training sessions for our Reception & Admin Programme cohort using BodySwaps as part of that and we’re in talks with an academy in South Yorkshire to see if we can replay that session to those pupils on Health Science T Level courses. We’re again using our Reception & Admin cohort to run a session on dealing with difficult conversations and angry patients, again using BodySwaps to put their learning into practice in VR. Further to this we’re talking to the GP school about a pilot using the 360VR, BodySwaps and potentially Re:Course AI to deliver a short training programme to international GPs (NHS Naïve) to introduce them to the world of work in Primary Care. All very exciting and would not have been possible without testing these products and methodologies which led to the purchase of the hardware and licences! Progress!
The end of November sees the completion of the Business Case! This document is meaty but certainly shows all the reasons why this centre needs to be here and needs to be a physical presence in the system. I’ve been collecting costings, evidence, testimonials and support from senior leaders not only from South Yorkshire but from Yorkshire the Humber region and across England! I started creating a PR video too but the amount of data, research and evidence we have managed to capture I think it will end up more like a visual representation of the Business Case. This is good but we will still need to create a short snappy PR video for showcasing the project. Watch this space for that!
This month sees the South Yorkshire hub hosting the regional connect day that we do 3 times a year; this gives the Hubs in our region an opportunity to get together and learn from each other, gain ideas and understand what is working well (and sometimes not so well) for each area. It’s a great time to gain insight that we might not necessarily get, and it allows us to connect with our Primary Care School colleagues to showcase all the work we’re doing.
One final thing from me – The Academic Health Science Network (AHSN) has changed its name to the Health Innovation Network and I have a conversation with the Yorkshire & The Humber team in the diary. I also had a chat with the Programme Director for Adoption and Spread at Health Innovation Manchester as I wanted to get his guidance and direction on setting up the business for the centre. As an NHS Clinical Entrepreneur himself and a proven track record in Manchester and Yorkshire with getting innovative ideas adopted, he had some fabulous contacts, words of encouragement and guidance on what not to do during the process. A great connection!
This may be the penultimate Blog from me as Project Manager.
As the job of completing the project as far as writing the Business Case is concerned, I set myself the target of the end of November 2023. That date quickly approaches and with it 90% complete I’m confident I’ll do it.
Well, it means that the Business Case, PR Video and all the other documents I have written that evidence and supports the creation of the Innovation Centre will need to go to just about everyone that needs to see it with workforce in their remit. It needs to be funded and funded appropriately.
Once funding has been sought, a team will need to be assigned to actually create it, consisting of a Programme Development Lead, Project Manager and administrative support. Once in place we can then truly start to create the space, the Board, the business plan and begin to get it embed into the system.
In the meantime, I will continue to help my Hub colleagues embed the use of technology into their training whilst looking to explore what else can be adopted to further expand our offer.
Thanks for reading this and every other blog!
Liz
