On Thursday 10th February 2022, Digital Futures hosted the GM Connected Health Ecosystem: How the pandemic has sparked innovations and new partnerships. The event welcomed guest speakers from The University of Manchester, Health Innovation Manchester, Better and the ECHAlliance, as well as a live audience who participated in a Q&A session after each presentation.
Laura Rooney, Director of Corporate Strategy, Health Innovation Manchester was the chair and opened the event, introducing the guest speakers and welcoming the attendees. She was also the first guest speaker to present. Her topic was “Digital transformation of health and care in response to the pandemic”. She explored what Health Innovation Manchester has done from a digital health and care perspective, particularly in response to the pandemic, as well as what is to come next. Laura finished her presentation by exploring how the pandemic has shown to be an opportunity for harnessing innovation. Watch the recording of her presentation here.
Next, Andy Bleaden, Director Ecosystems and Membership, ECHAlliance, gave an update on the ECHAlliance Network and explained the importance of linking up Greater Manchester with the rest of their 70 global ecosystems. This will stimulate opportunities for collaboration and act as a connector between the Greater Manchester Ecosystem and the rest of the world. Watch the recording of his presentation here.
The next guest speaker to present was Jack Williams, Client Director, Better. Jack talked about the “Ambitious digital platform strategies to help rapidly transform health and care”. He introduced the Better platform and its purpose to make sure that citizens have access to their health care data instead of it being locked in an applicator, by having an open data platform. Jack also showed some examples of their current work, including the Shared Care Planning application. Watch the recording of his presentation here.
Following, John Ainsworth, Professor of Health Informatics, University of Manchester discussed “eLab health data science workbench: collaborative research and teaching in a pandemic”. He introduced the eLab and one of the key things they wanted to address, which was safely reusing health care data in terms of people, projects and settings. This enables better usage of health care data. Watch the recording of his presentation here.
Next up was Ian Hall, Professor of Mathematical Epidemiology and Statistics, The University of Manchester, discussed “Social care data analysis and advice”. He gave an overview of data collection over the pandemic and how that had affected the analysis for evaluating intervention and advanced analytics. Watch the recording of his presentation here.
Finally, Steve Boyle, Programme Director, Health Innovation Manchester, presented “Digital access to primary care in GM during the pandemic and beyond”. At the start of the pandemic, the digital systems had to be deployed quickly to meet the needs of the public. Steve investigated the workflow, how these systems are being employed, the effects they have and the patient views on the introduction of these systems, particularly for digital primary care which has been accelerated by the pandemic. Watch the recording of his presentation here.
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