The Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce (TVCC) Health and Life Sciences Working Group (HLSWG) convened to explore:
- The latest opportunities and challenges of delivering digital technology improvements into the NHS/sector and how innovation can be translated into commercial success and improved patient care
- How we continue to showcase regional industry excellence in delivering the ambitions of the recently published Women’s Health Strategy
- Local Skills Improvement Plan and next stage ‘ask.’
Hosted in partnership with James Cowper Kreston and Green Park, TVCC’s business-led working group brings together senior representatives from industry, the NHS, academia, and policymakers from across the Thames Valley. Commenting on the meeting:
Sue Staunton, Chair of the HLSWG and Partner and Head of Life Sciences at James Cowper Kreston, “It was another good session and one I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was certainly a full meeting – in content as well as in our tremendous speakers. It was great how each speaker raised something that could be picked up by the others.”
Tony Bellis, TVCC Board Member, and agreeing with Sue added “really interesting session with excellent speakers. I think the ‘news from members’ session has become a really useful and interesting component … you could see conversations happening afterwards.”
TVCC is championing Women’s Health and working alongside the Health Innovation Network – Oxford and Thames Valley (HINOTV) in partnership with HLSWG members to showcase good practice and highlight where Thames Valley businesses are and can lead in the implementation of the Women’s Health Strategy.
Katherine Edwards, Director of Patient Safety and Clinical Improvement at HINOTV, led a discussion on the (now published) Strategy’s implications for the region and the role innovation can play in supporting its ambitions, stating, “It’s about proving that women’s health is not only a societal imperative – it is also good business. And that the Thames Valley can take a UK, if not global, lead in this space”
The Strategy provides a strong framework, and a welcome commitment from government, but it has its risks (including no real firm financial commitments). Success, Katherine said, will ultimately be measured by implementation and outcomes. There are important questions around prioritisation, resources, and delivery that we must now address collectively – issues that can be championed by the HLSWG and the Thames Valley.
Concluding, Katherine left us with a clear statement and challenge, “If our approach to health and care does not work for all women – 51% of the population- then simply put: it does not work. What can the Thames Valley and the HLSWG do to help?”
Ingrid Stracker, Point-of-Care Ultrasound Clinical Specialist Lead at Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust outlined POCUS and an under-utilised innovative technology transforming patient care and with the potential to save the NHS considerable amount of money. She explained, using live case studies, how POCUS is used to expedite rapid, bedside diagnoses and improve patient safety across multiple departments. POCUS allows frontline doctors and trained nursing staff to evaluate conditions, like assessing bladder volumes and detecting pneumonias, directly at the point of care.
Visiting the Middle East, last year, Ingrid confirmed the global appetite for such applied UK innovative technology. She also commented on the importance, from a skills development and training perspective, on the adoption of technology in the workplace, particularly the NHS, and the challenge of helping learn, share experiences. Leaving us with five challenges and actions, Ingrid highlighted the importance of collaboration and the value of the curated industry working groups like the HLSWG, and the work do the LSIP, in harnessing the power of effective collaboration.
Ingrid commented, “I was thrilled to present and thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon. It was great to see such interest in POCUS and the wider discussion around collaboration and innovation.”
We also welcomed Lord Lionel Tarassenko, President of Reuben College, University of Oxford, one of the UK’s leading authorities on healthcare innovation and technology commercialisation.
Lord Tarassenko shared his perspectives on the journey from innovation to commercial success, the challenges facing innovators, and the opportunities available to the Thames Valley region. Reflecting on the transformation of digital technologies over the last two decades, he applied these insights to gestational diabetes management, and the use and application of apps in the NHS and personal health and well-being.
He raised the issue of funding, including when ‘success outgrows early-stage capital’ and the ongoing challenge posed by the absence of scale-up funding for UK businesses (a topic we will return to at our next meeting). He also shared thoughts on the deployment of AI into the NHS and wider opportunities for AI in healthcare, the NHS Ten-Year Plan and the NHS Modernisation Bill: Single Patient Record, and championed the Our Future Health programme, inviting attendees – and everyone – to register and sign up.
Lord Lionel Tarassenko said: “The Thames Valley possesses many of the ingredients required to become a leading global centre for healthcare innovation. The challenge is ensuring that world-class research, technological advances and entrepreneurial expertise can be translated into scalable solutions that deliver real benefits for patients, health systems and the economy.”
Member updates included:
- University of Reading on the Industrial Advisory Board and how, thanks to the HLSWG, they have and continue to shape their future courses and programmes, including TVCC providing a letter of support to a cross University ESRC Connect application: “Reimagining AI Skills Pathways for the Era of Agentic AI.”
- Oxford Brookes University on their Health and Life Sciences Collaboration Opportunities, inviting members to ‘get involved.’
- Boehringer Ingelheim on their new Computational Innovation AI Accelerator in the UK.
- TVCC provided the latest on the Local Skills Improvement Plan, and ongoing work on shaping phase 2 priorities across health and life sciences, much of which was reflecting in the presentations and discussion today, including AI and digital transformation, skills and recruitment, productivity and net-zero/emerging technologies in the sector, with a call to ‘get involved’.
Next Working Group meeting
Our next working group meeting is scheduled for Thursday 5th November and focus on the topic of funding/finance. TVCC welcomes businesses with a direct interest in the sector to join the HLSWG.
Register your interest in attending HERE.
About the TVCC’s Thames Valley’s Health and Life Sciences working group
TVCC hosts the Thames Valley’s only region-wide, curated, life sciences working group.
Incorporating the Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) Workforce Development Partnership for Health and Life Sciences, our industry-led group serves as a vital platform for collaboration, convening global corporates, innovative SMEs, academic institutions and educational establishments, NHS trusts, government stakeholders, professional bodies, and pre-eminent thought leaders.
An inclusive group, we welcome TVCC members, and non-members, with a specific and evidential knowledge and expertise in the sector. Find our more HERE.
