Northern Health Futures Hub
Lead Research Organisation:
Newcastle University
Department Name: Sch of Computing
Abstract
The Northern Health Futures (NortHFutures) hub aims to create a world-leading healthcare technology (health-tech) development ecosystem. This will address unmet health needs and inequalities by supporting: inclusive digital skills training and sharing; research, innovation and entrepreneurship, enabled by digital design. Based in the North East and North Cumbria (NENC), with national and global reach, NortHFutures will support underserved communities, as it is known that national disparity of investment in NENC negatively impacts population health and wellbeing, and that a 'levelling up' of investment is needed to stimulate socio-economic and cultural growth for all, to encourage living and ageing well.
NortHFutures builds upon the joined-up NENC approach to people-powered digital health innovation, as our regional Integrated Care Board (ICB) uniquely involves local authorities, communities, and citizens. Academic team members have a research track record that is stakeholder-involved and civic- and community-engaged. They are world-leading on understanding (i) health inequalities from medical, social, and design perspectives, and (ii) the opportunities for enrichment and enablement related to ageing well, connecting rural and urban populations, and pioneering applications of data science. In the pilot phase, we draw on this specialist expertise to address evidenced unmet health needs in NENC, (which have national and global importance): children and young people's health and nutrition; mental health and wellbeing; development of digital surgical pathways (for monitoring patient journeys beyond the hospital); living well with multiple long-term conditions.
We combine the strengths and resources of 6 universities (Newcastle, Cumbria, Durham, Northumbria, Sunderland and Teesside), bringing regional investment in NIHR services, facilities and Applied Research Collaborations, plus National Innovation Centres for Ageing (NICA), Data (NICD) and Rural Enterprise (NICRE), National Horizons Centre (NHC), EPSRC Digital Economy programmes in data and digital citizens, and Health Data Research UK, the UK's national institute for health data science. NortHFutures supports new planned Centres, including Northumbria's Centre for Health & Social Equity and Cumbria's new campus and medical school. These University offers combine with an extensive partner network, including: ICB-NENC, 7 NHS Trusts, NHS Business Services Authority, Department of Health and Social Care, Health Education England; VCSE organisations delivering community-based services; industry partners - from SMEs to global tech giants; civic bodies such as Local and Combined Authorities; existing health research networks (e.g. AHSN-NENC, Newcastle Health Innovation Partnership); and innovation accelerators (e.g. Innovation SuperNetwork). Through an integrated, regional approach uniting this consortium for the first time, NortHFutures ambitiously aims to establish global leadership in Digital Health.
To deliver this we will develop a supportive community infrastructure. We will co-design a digital brokerage service to connect and amplify partners' work, to offer and consume expertise, services and facilities (supporting acceleration of health-tech companies at differing tech-readiness levels). We will pioneer a Live Digital Health Databank, to explore, and train for, advanced healthcare data analytics, combining live data flows with care records (e.g. Great North Care Record). This will support personalised health diagnostics and interventions, giving our hub a unique value proposition to companies wishing to explore advanced data technologies. We will invest in Extended Reality pilots, to open up possibilities for clinical practice and service delivery. Our approaches will embed Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI), and Patient and Public Engagement (PPIE) throughout, to deliver health-tech that supports care beyond the hospital and is co-designed with end-users.
NortHFutures builds upon the joined-up NENC approach to people-powered digital health innovation, as our regional Integrated Care Board (ICB) uniquely involves local authorities, communities, and citizens. Academic team members have a research track record that is stakeholder-involved and civic- and community-engaged. They are world-leading on understanding (i) health inequalities from medical, social, and design perspectives, and (ii) the opportunities for enrichment and enablement related to ageing well, connecting rural and urban populations, and pioneering applications of data science. In the pilot phase, we draw on this specialist expertise to address evidenced unmet health needs in NENC, (which have national and global importance): children and young people's health and nutrition; mental health and wellbeing; development of digital surgical pathways (for monitoring patient journeys beyond the hospital); living well with multiple long-term conditions.
We combine the strengths and resources of 6 universities (Newcastle, Cumbria, Durham, Northumbria, Sunderland and Teesside), bringing regional investment in NIHR services, facilities and Applied Research Collaborations, plus National Innovation Centres for Ageing (NICA), Data (NICD) and Rural Enterprise (NICRE), National Horizons Centre (NHC), EPSRC Digital Economy programmes in data and digital citizens, and Health Data Research UK, the UK's national institute for health data science. NortHFutures supports new planned Centres, including Northumbria's Centre for Health & Social Equity and Cumbria's new campus and medical school. These University offers combine with an extensive partner network, including: ICB-NENC, 7 NHS Trusts, NHS Business Services Authority, Department of Health and Social Care, Health Education England; VCSE organisations delivering community-based services; industry partners - from SMEs to global tech giants; civic bodies such as Local and Combined Authorities; existing health research networks (e.g. AHSN-NENC, Newcastle Health Innovation Partnership); and innovation accelerators (e.g. Innovation SuperNetwork). Through an integrated, regional approach uniting this consortium for the first time, NortHFutures ambitiously aims to establish global leadership in Digital Health.
To deliver this we will develop a supportive community infrastructure. We will co-design a digital brokerage service to connect and amplify partners' work, to offer and consume expertise, services and facilities (supporting acceleration of health-tech companies at differing tech-readiness levels). We will pioneer a Live Digital Health Databank, to explore, and train for, advanced healthcare data analytics, combining live data flows with care records (e.g. Great North Care Record). This will support personalised health diagnostics and interventions, giving our hub a unique value proposition to companies wishing to explore advanced data technologies. We will invest in Extended Reality pilots, to open up possibilities for clinical practice and service delivery. Our approaches will embed Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI), and Patient and Public Engagement (PPIE) throughout, to deliver health-tech that supports care beyond the hospital and is co-designed with end-users.
Organisations
- Newcastle University (Lead Research Organisation)
- NHS Business Services Authority (Project Partner)
- Amazon Web Services (UK) (Project Partner)
- Collaborative Newcastle (Project Partner)
- CNTW NHS Foundation Trust (Project Partner)
- IBM (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Jumping Rivers Ltd (Project Partner)
- Recovery College Collective (Project Partner)
- Motivait Holdings Limited (Project Partner)
- Sunderland Software City (Project Partner)
- Youth Focus: North East (Project Partner)
- TEC Services Association (TSA) (Project Partner)
- Newcastle City Council (Project Partner)
- Sunderland Royal Hospital (Project Partner)
- Dynamo Northeast (Project Partner)
- Red Hat (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Project Partner)
- Tees Valley Combined Authority (Project Partner)
- Centre for Process Innovation (Project Partner)
- Northstar Ventures (Project Partner)
- Ways to Wellness (Project Partner)
- Invest Newcastle (Project Partner)
- Directors of Adult Social Services (Project Partner)
- apoQlar GmbH (Project Partner)
- Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (Project Partner)
- Healthworks (Project Partner)
- Carlisle Youth Zone (Project Partner)
- Microsoft (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- NHS North East and North Cumbria (Project Partner)
- Conception X Limited (Project Partner)
- North East and North Cumbria AHSN (Project Partner)
- Centre for Life (Project Partner)
- Health Education England (Project Partner)
- Cambridge Future Tech Ltd (Project Partner)
- Department of Health and Social Care (Project Partner)
- VONNE (Voluntary Org Network North East) (Project Partner)
- County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust (Project Partner)
- Northern Health Science Alliance Ltd (Project Partner)
- SYS Systems Limited (Project Partner)
- Fuse (Ctr for Translational Research) (Project Partner)
- Cobalt Data Centres Ltd (Project Partner)
- North of Tyne Combined Authority (Project Partner)
- Siemens Healthcare (Healthineers) Ltd (Project Partner)
Publications
Crosato L
(2023)
Social Interaction-Aware Dynamical Models and Decision-Making for Autonomous Vehicles
in Advanced Intelligent Systems
Zhang H
(2024)
Pose-based tremor type and level analysis for Parkinson's disease from video.
in International journal of computer assisted radiology and surgery
| Description | Parliamentary and Scientific Committee (P&SC) APPG Discussion on Digital Health |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| URL | https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/135/science-innovation-and-technology-committee |
| Description | EPSRC Pan-Regional Showcase Event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The Principal Investigator, Abigail Durrant, and Co-Investigator, Vikki Rand were invited to present the NortHFutures hub programme at a UKRI/EPSRC Regional Showcase event on 6th November 2023, which took place at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester. Confirmed list of speakers included the following. Greater Lincolnshire and North Cambridgeshire (LINCAM) region agricultural technologies (agri-tech) cluster project - One of 10 projects across the UK to receive EPSRC funding in October 2023 to build place focused research and innovation clusters: Simon Pearson, University of Lincoln and colleagues from the University of Cambridge UKFin+ Funding Research Collaborations for Wicked Problems in Financial Services - Working with regional fintech networks across the UK to link research expertise on cyber security, financial inclusion, quantum finance and decentralised finance to the financial industry, consumers and regulators: Aad van Moorsel, University of Birmingham Digital Health Hub for the North East of England and North Cumbria - The Northern Health Futures project is tackling place based health and social inequalities through the application of world-leading health technologies: Abi Durrant, Newcastle University and Vikki Rand, Teeside University Civic-university collaboration to build the case for new research infrastructures - How regional engagement has helped researchers at Liverpool and their partners to develop the design for a new national facility identified for the Daresbury Laboratory North West England. If funded, it will offer transformational measuring capabilities for personalised medicine, energy storage and clean growth Nigel Browning, University of Liverpool Including citizens in artificial intelligence ethics and governance - Helping researchers across Greater Manchester involve and engage the public in artificial intelligence research, this project aims to build capacity for public engagement with research into information and communication technologies. Keeley Crockett, Manchester Metropolitan University |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Health Innovation North East and North Cumbria: Health Life Sciences Pledge Event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Principal Investigator presented the hub programme to a cross-sector regional audiences of stakeholders in healthcare technologies and innovation, in November 2023. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://hlspledge.org.uk/ |
| Description | Informatics Skills Development Network (ISDN) North East Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | In Autumn 2023 NortHFutures Hub PI Abigail Durrant and Co-I Matthew Forshaw presented the hub programme and training work package to the regional ISDN annual conference (Informatics Skills Development Network North East and North Cumbria). A direct consequence of this was to meet Chief Clinical Information Officer (CCIO) for the regional Integrated Care Board and establish a network for communication with CCIOs across the who region, about NortHFutures training opportunities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://northeastnorthcumbria.nhs.uk/media/id5lz112/lynn-hartley-isdn.pdf |
| Description | Integrated Care Board (ICB) for North East and North Cumbria (NENC) region: Digital Inclusion Strategy Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Working group held in November 2023, led and chaired by consultants Thrive by Design commissioned by NENC ICB, to inform development of Digital Inclusion Strategy for NENC IBC. The EPSRC NortHFutures Hub PI and Hub Manager contributed to discussions and provided considerations for the design of accessible digital 'touchpoints' in health and care systems and services. This was a formative activity in a longitudinal programme of work to inform the Digital Inclusion Strategy. Research insights from EPSRC INTUIT were also presented as highly relevant to inform discussion. Our involvement and follow-on conversations with the Chair of the Digital Inclusion Strategy group led to us being invited to become members of the group. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.thrivebydesign.org.uk/our-learning/new-project-north-east-and-north-cumbria-ics-digital-... |
| Description | Newcastle University Faculty of Medical Sciences Industrial Advisory Board Meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Principal Investigator Abigail Durrant and Co-Director and Co-I Naeem Soomro presented the hub programme at this industrial advisory board meeting on 22nd November 2023 at Maldron Hotel, Newcastle upon Tyne, and discussed the programme with board members representing healthcare technologies companies and stakeholders in the hub: Joanna Holbrook - Corporate Vice President for Cardio and Renal disease and Site Head of Novo Nordisk Research Centre Oxford Jason R. Dinges - Investment Advisor and IP Counsel at Morningside Technology Advisory LLC Paul Edwards - Director of R&D at Leica Biosystems Ramy Younes - Senior Clinical Programme Leader NASH/Obesity at Boehringer Ingelheim Craig Buckley - Head of Research and Scientific Collaborations at Siemens Healthineers Gillian Dalgliesh - Associate Director at QIAGEN Helen Bright - Vice President R&D at Centauri Therapeutics Adrian Freeman - Senior Director - Emerging Innovations Unit at AstraZeneca Ravi Chana - Head of Business Development at Roche Diagnostics |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | NortHFutures Hub Launch for Partners |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | The core hub operations team at Newcastle University organised a launch event on 6th December 2023 for the EPSRC NortHFutures Hub partners and additional stakeholders who had expressed an interest to get involved in hub activities by joining a mailing list. This event was held at The Catalyst at Newcastle Helix on 6th December 2023 and involved presentations by the Principal Investigator (Abigail Durrant), Co-Investigators who lead Hub work packages across the 6 partner universities, David Burn, PVC for Research, Faculty of Medical Sciences at Newcastle University, plus representatives from core hub partners, including Voluntary Organisations Network North East (VONNE), Health Innovation North East and North Cumbria, Northern Health Sciences Alliance. The audience for this event was cross-sector, and the Hub Programme Manager, Jen Wood, facilitated a Q & A with the audience following presentations. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://northfutures.org/ |
| Description | Northern Health Sciences Alliance Annual General Meeting 2024 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Principal Investigator Abigail Durrant and Co-Investigator Bernard Corfe were invited to sit on a panel and present a position paper on the topic of 'A SuperCluster in Action: Opportunities of scale and the scale of the opportunity; Benefits and experience of collaborative working under an NHSA banner'. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.thenhsa.co.uk/news/ |
| Description | Presentation to Gateshead Digital Inclusion Group |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | In Autumn 2023 PI Abigail Durrant presented the NortHFutures Hub Programme to a diverse group of regional stakeholders in Digital Inclusion (including Connected Voice), to foster engagement with community groups and lay / citizen representatives and from the voluntary community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector; |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://connectedvoice.org.uk/ |
| Description | Presentation to North East and North Cumbria (NENC) Integrated Care Board (ICB) Digital Strategy Meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | NortHFutures Hub PI, Abigail Durrant, presented the hub programme (focusing on the skills and training work) to the NENC ICB Digital Strategy team, in order to support discussion and inform the development of the digital strategy that was in a draft form at time of presentation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://northeastnorthcumbria.nhs.uk/media/5jdnarmg/nenc-ics-digital-strategy-2020_v1-2-3.pdf |
| Description | VONNE Partnership Forum Presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Introduction to hub programme and call for participation in Research Involvement Advisory Group by VCSE sector. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |