A new partnership between Centric Health Media and KSS AHSN will explore insights and share solutions to some of the most urgent challenges in health and social care.

The partnership unites two very different organisations around a single shared purpose – getting under the surface of health and care system challenges and giving subject experts the chance to share their knowledge and experience.

Centric is a clinically led, interactive media platform where best practice in digital healthcare is streamed online to promote engagement and collaboration with NHS, health and social care, private sector, voluntary organisations and the wider community.

KSS AHSN is 1 of 15 AHSNs who form a network covering the whole of England and whose mission is to “transform lives through innovation”. AHSNs guide and support all parts of the system to make the right connections to solve problems, make best use of innovation and ultimately transform lives for patients and citizens. The AHSNs are also the hosts for 15 Patient Safety Collaboratives, which form a similar network to the AHSNs and provide national coverage.

Although many parts of the health and care system face similar challenges and share ambitions around improving outcomes, it is not always easy for information about solutions to travel round the system and reach everyone who could benefit. This new partnership will enable expertise and experience to be shared more effectively, providing a valuable resource of knowledge and solutions.

Douglas Hamandishe, Presenter and Broadcaster, Centric Health Media, said:
“I’m thrilled with the announcement of this partnership. It truly offers an excellent opportunity to showcase innovation, research and best practice to a larger more diverse audience that has a shared vision in supporting the NHS to deliver better quality care.”

Over the next year, Centric and KSS AHSN will deliver a series of linked videos, each focussing in on a specific issue faced by those working in healthcare across England.

This approach will see a panel of experts – typically drawn from the NHS, industry, social care and the third sector – looking at a national problem and using specific examples to illustrate its impact on the lives of citizens and patients. They will then build on that description of need to talk through some of the solutions that are already helping the system to meet the challenges.

For instance, the COVID pandemic has surfaced some of the inequalities within health and care service provision, and how the new prominence of digital solutions runs the risk of unintentionally disconnecting some members of society from vital services.

The first session will look at the issue of health inequalities and the impact of increasingly digitalised service provision. It will then explore some of the work being undertaken in south east England to tackle digital exclusion.

George Anibaba, Senior Programme Manager at KSS AHSN, said that the partnership with Centric would be instrumental in supporting KSS AHSN’s work to connect the system to solve problems, and find and implement valued innovations to that can ultimately transform lives for patients and citizens.

“We know that the challenges we encounter through our work are not specific to the south east, which is why we’re so excited to be working with Centric on this project,” he explained.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity to be able to share our own and our system’s experience, understanding of, and solutions to, these wicked problems that we all face.

“As well as showcasing potential solutions we hope that the videos will act as a catalyst for further development and adoption of the approaches that we will be highlighting, and we’ll be happy to offer guidance and support needed to make that happen.”

The first film on digital inclusion will be followed by further episodes looking at patient safety, implementing health research, and supporting innovation implementation. As well as creating a short film of the interviews, Centric will also produce a 30-minute podcast of each session, enabling each topic to be looked at in greater depth.

Contact
Ben Webber, Director, Centric Health Media 07507 952552
Rick Fell, Head of Communications, KSS AHSN, 07827 369797