Commitment to health partnership extended

The Health Innovation and Transformation Partnership, a ground-breaking collaboration between the NHS and academic and industry partners, has been extended for another three years.

Set up in 2022, the partnership is a collaboration between NHS Golden Jubilee’s national Centre for Sustainable Delivery, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, University of Glasgow, AstraZeneca UK and Lenus Health.

The aim is to create transformation in NHS Scotland within both scheduled and unscheduled care through large scale programmes to improve the health of the population and by expanding clinical research.

Interventions will use a variety of novel approaches and technologies focusing upon wide-ranging points in the patient journey and pathways of care and will span early upstream detection, diagnosis and risk-stratification through to chronic disease management.

Some of the projects already underway as part of the Health Innovation and Transformation Partnership include:

• Optimised Pathway for Early Identification of Heart Failure in the Community (OPERA) – a collaboration between AstraZeneca UK, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, University of Glasgow, Lenus Health and West of Scotland Innovation teams.
• Prevention of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Lung Attacks by early Intervention Strategies (POLARIS)
• Screening for early heart failure diagnosis and Management in Primary care or at Home using Natriuretic peptides and echocardiography (SYMPHONY) – a five-country trial with a Scottish arm called TARTAN-HF)
• Real world implementation of a supported treatment algorithm to shorten time to treatment in patients admitted with anticoagulation associated major bleeding (RECALL)

Dame Anna Dominiczak, the Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist for Health, said:

“The Health Innovation and Transformation Partnership will help provide unique opportunities to improve patient care, employ new technologies and medicines, while addressing the impact of health inequalities and social barriers to provide a more sustainable future healthcare system.

“The organisations involved in this partnership will bring their individual strengths in this fusion of medical expertise, knowledge and insight focused on innovation to deliver optimal patient outcomes and experiences.”