NHS partner InnoScot Health will be continuing its 2024 series of interactive webinars with the next focusing on the country’s drive to fully harness Research, Development, and Innovation (RDI)

The free to join session on Wednesday 28 February is entitled Maximising NHS Scotland’s end-to-end innovation resources to improve healthcare and will feature two guest speakers:

• Samantha Smith-Garrett, Senior Innovation Programme Manager at NHS Lothian and Health Innovation South East Scotland (HISES)
• Dr Allyson Bailey who has three roles within NHS Scotland – Research and Development Officer at NHS Forth Valley; Commercial Research Manager at NHS Fife; and Training Lead for the NHS R&D Forum

Samantha will be discussing the role of HISES, one of Scotland’s innovation hubs and how it is partnering with companies to provide test bed environments.

Allyson – who works with her local innovation team on overlapping RDI activity – will be presenting an introduction to NHS and Health and Social Care R&D governance and management processes in relation to clinical studies and ethics.

Both speakers are embedded within the infrastructure that supports Scotland’s RDI ambitions and will provide their insight while fielding questions on their respective processes and personal experiences when analysing and developing innovative ideas.

The February session will be led by two of InnoScot Health’s Innovation Managers, Fiona Schaefer and Frances Ramsay.

Fiona said: “We believe this webinar will give attendees insight into vital work and resources available, driven by teams across Scotland that feed into, and support, Scotland’s RDI ambitions.

“This will help in their understanding of how to approach research and development with new ideas and clinically evaluate them; methods aimed at further development in real world settings; and gearing up for adoption on a national scale to support the delivery of frontline services and improve patient outcomes.

“We expect it to be an interesting and insightful session that answers a lot of questions, and we are grateful to Samantha and Allyson for joining us.”

The accessible, bitesize ‘lunch & learn’ sessions are hosted on Microsoft Teams, regularly providing a platform for inspiring guest speakers whilst allowing InnoScot Health staff to share their deep knowledge and experience on innovation.

The webinar takes place from 12 - 12.45pm. Please use the link below to register and you will receive details on how to join the session:

• Register to attend

Frances added: “We are delighted to welcome two fantastic guest speakers who are both passionate about achieving better patient outcomes and bring first-hand insight into RDI processes across Scotland.

“It will be interesting to hear about collaboration with Scotland’s innovation hubs, and continuing to accelerate the country’s innovation performance by fast tracking high impact ideas.

“Likewise, we look forward to understanding more about the role of research in firstly ensuring ideas have been rigorously tested for efficacy and safety and are ready for the next stage of development.

“Together, our speakers will highlight many of the key pillars that serve to strengthen Scottish healthcare through collaboration led innovation.”

The session will be rounded off by an opportunity to ask questions of the speakers. Pre-submit your queries for our panel discussion to info@innoscot.com.