Health and Care Infrastructure Research and Innovation Centre (HaCIRIC)
Lead Research Organisation:
Imperial College London
Department Name: Imperial College Business School
Abstract
Modernising the UK's health and social care system is a priority for government and for the country as a whole. To do this, wide ranging organisational and funding reforms are being put in place. An unprecedented investment to renew the built and technical infrastructure for delivering care is also underway: new hospitals and primary care centres are being built, information and communication technology is being upgraded and new technologies for diagnosing and treating disease are being introduced. If world-class infrastructure is to be delivered, this investment must achieve its full potential. The aim of HaCIRIC is to establish a new research centre to help accomplish this. HaCIRIC's focus is on the built and technical infrastructure for health and social care, and the interaction between infrastructure specification and the way patients are treated. Improving the way this is planned, delivered and managed is at the core of HaCIRIC's activity. What are the challenges? The health and social care system is one of the most complex and rapidly changing organisational and technical environments in any sector of the economy. Many stakeholders are involved in delivering care, funding mechanisms are convoluted, and patterns of demand and use are changing, as are government health policies. All this places new pressures on the underlying infrastructure. These are compounded by two problems. First, there is an historic legacy of out-dated buildings and cultures within the care system. Second, the life cycles of the various elements of the infrastructure / buildings, medical and information technology / are mismatched. Each involves complex supply chains, multiple users with their own needs and differing institutional and funding arrangements. All these have to be reconciled. For example, the current PFI programme for new hospitals involves supply contracts for thirty years or more, but incorporates technologies which have five year life cycles to help deliver diagnostics and therapies which are undergoing rapid evolutionary change. Modernising the health and social care infrastructure will therefore require innovative approaches. HaCIRIC will help develop the tools and processes which will embed 'innovation as normal business' amongst those responsible for delivering the investment in infrastructure. Its research programme has been developed in partnership with all the key stakeholders from the care system, including the Department of Health, the NHS, the Department of Trade and Industry and the supply industries. Seven research themes have been identified:- Managing innovation in a context of technological change- Procurement for innovation- Innovative design and construction- Care delivery practices- Delivering improved performance through operations management- Knowledge management in complex systems - Design and evaluation of integrated systems HaCIRIC is a collaboration between existing research centres at Imperial College London and the Universities of Loughborough, Reading and Salford. Additional partners from other universities, industry and the care system will be involved in specific research projects. Together this represents a resource valued at more than 11m, of which 7.0m consists of EPSRC support, 2.9m is from the four existing research centres, 500,000 is from the Department of Trade and Industry and 720,000 is from industrial partners. HaCIRIC will therefore represent a substantial resource and a unique capability in skills and knowledge to find solutions to the key healthcare infrastructure problems of the 21st century.
Organisations
- Imperial College London (Lead Research Organisation)
- Manchester City Council (Project Partner)
- Tribal Group (Project Partner)
- Wates (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- MaST LIFT (Project Partner)
- BWB Consulting (Project Partner)
- Lend Lease (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- National Audit Office (Project Partner)
- Davis Langdon LLP (Project Partner)
- Inter Academy for Design and Health UK (Project Partner)
- Mersey Care NHS Trust (Project Partner)
- Loughborough University (Project Partner)
- University College Hospital (Project Partner)
- MJ Medical (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- World Agency of Planetary Monitoring & Earthquake Risk Reduction (Project Partner)
- ArcHealth (Project Partner)
- Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust (Project Partner)
- University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (Project Partner)
- LEICESTER CITY COUNCIL (Project Partner)
- YRM Architects (Project Partner)
- Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust (Project Partner)
- Willmott Dixon (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Complexity Solutions Ltd (Project Partner)
- ActivePlan Solutions Ltd (Project Partner)
- West Sussex Primary Care Trust (Project Partner)
- Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust (Project Partner)
- Purdue University (Project Partner)
- Clean Modules Ltd (Project Partner)
- National Health Service (Project Partner)
- Mace (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust (Project Partner)
- Architects for Health (Project Partner)
- I B M United Kingdom Ltd (Project Partner)
- National Health Service Scotland (Project Partner)
- Eric Wright Group (Project Partner)
- Unlimited Potential (Project Partner)
- Chalmers University of Technology (Project Partner)
- Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (Project Partner)
- Leicestershire County Council (Project Partner)
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (Project Partner)
- Huazhong University of Science and Technology (Project Partner)
- P and HS Architects (Project Partner)
- Frimley Park Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (Project Partner)
Publications
A. Tucker D
(2014)
When infrastructure transition and work practice redesign collide
in Journal of Organizational Change Management
Abma I
(2014)
Perceptions and experiences of financial incentives: a qualitative study of dialysis care in England.
in BMJ open
Adamu Z
(2015)
The Design and Simulation of Natural Personalised Ventilation (NPV) System for Multi-Bed Hospital Wards
in Buildings
Barlow
(2017)
Managing Innovation In Healthcare
Barlow J
(2009)
The challenges of adopting integrated mainstream telecare services: lessons from the UK
in Eurohealth
Barlow J
(2007)
A systematic review of the benefits of home telecare for frail elderly people and those with long-term conditions.
in Journal of telemedicine and telecare
Barlow J
(2009)
Delivering Innovation in Hospital Construction: Contracts and Collaboration in the UK's Private Finance Initiative Hospitals Program
in California Management Review
Barlow J
(2008)
The private finance initiative, project form and design innovation
in Research Policy
Barlow J
(2011)
Raising the profile of simulation and modelling in health services planning and implementation.
in Journal of health services research & policy
Barlow J
(2010)
De facto privatization or a renewed role for the EU? Paying for Europe's healthcare infrastructure in a recession.
in Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine
Description | For copy of final programme report and details of all (c.300) publications please visit www.haciric.org or contact Prof. James Barlow |
Exploitation Route | see programme final report, available at www.haciric.org |
Sectors | Construction Healthcare |
URL | http://www.haciric.org |
Description | For copy of final programme report and details of all (c.300) publications please visit www.haciric.org or contact Prof. James Barlow |
First Year Of Impact | 2014 |
Sector | Construction,Healthcare |
Impact Types | Societal Economic |