What is the Yorkshire and Humber HIEC?
What is the Yorkshire & Humber HIEC?
The Yorkshire and Humber HIEC includes all regional NHS organisations and universities with healthcare faculties, making it one of the largest in the country.
The HIEC is the Y&H focus for the systematic and managed adoption and diffusion of proven innovative practices and technologies in healthcare delivery, education and training – across the region and beyond. Its emphasis is particularly on using education, training and development to accelerate and consolidate adoption and diffusion. In addition, we are forging new – and developing existing – relationships between the NHS and higher education, and with commercial and not-for profit organisations.
Initially the HIEC has focussed on three key themes: long term conditions, maternal and infant health, and patient safety. In addition to delivering change through the three themes we are sharing and using the learning from across the themes to bring together best practice around the adoption and spread of innovation.
A more detailed briefing on the HIEC approach is available.
What is a Health Innovation & Education Cluster (HIEC)?
HIECs have been set up to support health care providers, higher educational institutions and industry to work together at a regional level and local level to drive innovation and improvements in patient care, and raise the quality of healthcare education and training. They do this by getting the benefits of research and innovation as quickly as possible to patients, and by strengthening the co-ordination of education and training.
The Members of the HIEC for Yorkshire & the Humber applied to and were approved by the Department of Health to establish a HIEC at the end of 2009. There are 16 other HIECs in England, operating either at regional or sub-regional level.
HIECs have their origin in Lord Darzi’s 2008 report High Quality Care for All1. This described HIECs as bringing together ‘… many partners, across primary, community and secondary care, universities and colleges, and industry. They will be collaborations that set shared strategic goals for the benefit of member organisations. Their members will run joint innovation programmes that reflect their local needs and distinctiveness. They will also promote learning and education between their members. Bringing NHS organisations and higher education institutions together will enable research findings to be applied more readily to patient care.’
