NHS Scotland staff with great ideas on how to improve the health service are being invited to sign up to a clinical innovation programme.

The NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme (CEP) is a ‘ground-breaking’ opportunity which helps health professionals turn their ideas to improve diagnostics or treatments into reality across the health service.

The free year-long programme provides mentoring, resources and access to a community of likeminded individual and industry experts to help develop entrepreneurs’ commercial skills, while remaining in their NHS post.

Delivered by Anglia Ruskin University, with support from InnoScot Health, the Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre (DHI), Scottish Enterprise, NHS Education Scotland, Scottish Health and Industry Partnership Group (SHIP) and the Scottish government, applicants for cohort 8 of the programme have until the 29th of October to express their interest.

This comes months after research commissioned by InnoScot Health found that 90% of NHS Scotland staff surveyed think innovation is essential to improve services and tackle pandemic backlogs.

This same research revealed that 71% of healthcare workers report having offered ideas to enhance the delivery of healthcare in NHS Scotland on one or more occasion.

The CEP will offer dedicated learning on how to build a start-up or develop an entrepreneurial idea over the year in a series of ‘pit stops’ – educational events which can be attended either virtually or in-person.

Gillian Henderson, Head of Project Management at InnoScot Health, said it has been inspiring to be part of the “inclusive, progressive programme”, and that it will be rewarding to see a new Scottish cohort develop innovations that can be adopted acrossthe NHS:

“We want to encourage NHS Scotland staff with great ideas that are at any stage of development to get involved in the programme and maximise their learning, in turn accelerating the introduction of ground-breaking treatments and diagnostics. This is a great time to apply.

“Fundamentally, CEP is an exceptional opportunity to empower the diverse NHS Scotland workforce during this important period of recovery, renewal, and transformation by creating a space where NHS staff can develop their innovation or idea without having to leave the health service.”

Read More: NHS staff say data vital to improving care; Innovation key to improving NHS Scotland, say staff

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