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Author: Louise Stanley

Executive Director of Birmingham Health Partners, Professor Neil Hanley, and ABHI Chief Executive, Peter Ellingworth, sign the MoU agreement

New partnership with ABHI places Birmingham at the forefront of healthtech innovation

Written by Louise Stanley on . Posted in Birmingham Health Partners, Health inequalities, Maternal health, Mental health.

A new strategic partnership with the Association of British HealthTech Industries (ABHI) will see Birmingham Health Partners (BHP) work collaboratively to unlock innovation, accelerate research translation, and improve health outcomes across one of the UK’s most diverse regions.

ABHI is the UK’s leading industry association for health technology (HealthTech), supporting its members – including both multinationals and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) – to save and enhance lives through developing products from syringes and wound dressings to surgical robots, diagnostics and digitally enhanced technologies.

This new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between ABHI and BHP reflects a shared ambition to better connect the HealthTech industry with the academic and clinical excellence embedded across Birmingham and the wider region. The partnership will provide a more coordinated route for HealthTech companies to access world-leading expertise, infrastructure and patient insight, enabling technologies to be developed and evaluated with relevance to real-world settings.

Members of ABHI and BHP meet in Birmingham to formalise the MoU agreement

The agreement signposts BHP as the “front door” to the region – a clear entry point for HealthTech and life sciences companies looking to collaborate across the city’s extensive ecosystem which boasts globally ranked academic institutions and attracts significant health and life sciences research funding.

Importantly, Birmingham’s population provides a powerful testbed for innovation. As one of the youngest and most ethnically diverse cities in Europe, with a stable and rooted population, it offers the opportunity to generate insights and outcomes that are both locally relevant and globally applicable – presenting a unique opportunity to develop and scale interventions that reduce health inequalities and improve access for underserved groups.

Women’s health and mental health have been highlighted as critical areas of focus, with both ABHI and BHP committed to closing gender health gaps through innovative approaches and technology-enabled, whole-person models of care – as well as helping to reimagine mental health care, deliver earlier interventions, and support more equitable outcomes.

The partnership will measure success against three overarching priorities:

  • Demonstrating measurable improvements in clinical outcomes.
  • Ensuring that technologies are scalable and relevant to population health, not just individual conditions.
  • Addressing inequalities in access and experience of care, in support of a fairer, more resilient health system.

This collaboration builds on recent findings from the Health Innovation Network’s Size of the Prize analysis, which highlights the £278 billion economic potential that healthcare innovations could unlock if adopted at scale. It reflects ABHI’s strategic commitment to nurturing regional partnerships that not only drive economic growth, but also deliver tangible improvements in people’s lives.

Main image caption – Executive Director of Birmingham Health Partners, Professor Neil Hanley, and ABHI Chief Executive, Peter Ellingworth, sign the MoU agreement

New evaluation sheds light on virtual wards in Birmingham and Solihull

Written by Louise Stanley on . Posted in Birmingham Health Partners.

A new study by the Birmingham Health Partners (BHP) Evaluation Service has provided timely insights into the early implementation of virtual wards (VWs) across Birmingham and Solihull, identifying critical enablers – as well as barriers – to their success.

Commissioned by University Hospitals Birmingham and led by researchers at the University of Birmingham’s Department of Applied Health Sciences, the evaluation explored virtual wards introduced under the NHS England VW programme – focusing on services supporting patients with frailty, respiratory conditions, recent surgery, and musculoskeletal issues, with a detailed analysis of the respiratory VW designed for early supported discharge of COPD patients.

The study comprised four distinct workstreams: qualitative research to understand the factors influencing VW design and development; surveys and interviews to recognise the experiences and perspectives of staff; evaluation of patient outcomes; and a health economics analysis to assess the cost-effectiveness of the respiratory VW vs usual care.

Key findings highlight the importance of consistent referral pathways, the urgent need for interoperable IT systems, and the value of digital tools tailored to varying levels of patient literacy and connectivity. The report also stressed the need for more staff training, clearer communication with patients and carers, and greater involvement of frontline staff and patients in shaping future services.

While the health economic analysis showed promise, it also exposed significant data gaps – including length of stay and readmission rates – that need to be addressed to fully assess the cost-effectiveness of virtual wards.

Dr Ian Litchfield, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham, said:
“Virtual wards offer an exciting opportunity to deliver care more flexibly and closer to patients’ homes. But for them to work at scale, we need to move beyond enthusiasm and address the real-world challenges around infrastructure, communication, and equity. This evaluation is a first step towards designing services that truly meet the needs of patients and staff alike.”

The findings will inform future development of virtual ward models, not only in the Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care System but across the wider NHS landscape.

The report can be downloaded from https://www.birminghamhealthpartners.co.uk/for-researchers/evaluation-service/

It also appears in the Journal of Medical Internet Research – https://www.jmir.org/2025/1/e75406

ENDS

The Birmingham Health Partners Evaluation Service was established in 2022 to provide time-sensitive, formative evidence on innovations in healthcare and capacity building. It carries out rapid and effective service evaluations, often running in parallel with service implementation; helps spread learning to other sites; and helps build local capacity for in-house evaluations.

Promising new steroid drug could offer safer arthritis treatment

Written by Louise Stanley on . Posted in Inflammation and chronic disease.

Early research has found that a new steroid drug, used for treating Duchenne Muscular dystrophy, has shown significant promise in treating inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.

Research published in Rheumatology revealed that Vamorolone, a glucocorticoid, showed to be just as effective as standard glucocorticoids to treat inflammation but with minimised negative side effects.

Glucocorticoids are some of the most widely used drugs to treat patients with a diverse range of inflammatory diseases. Unfortunately, whilst they effectively reduce inflammation and pain, they can also cause severe side effects. These include muscle and bone loss that can increase the risks of falls and fractures.

Vamorolone is a unique metabolism-resistant steroid approved by the FDA which appears to provide significant anti-inflammatory benefits while causing fewer harmful effects on muscle and bone.

The study, funded by the Foundation to Eradicate Duchenne and utilising mouse models with chronic rheumatoid arthritis, shows Vamorolone could be a promising alternative treatment for patients living with the disease.

Dr Rowan Hardy, Associate Professor in Steroid Metabolism and Signalling at BHP founder-member the University of Birmingham, said: “If Vamorolone is effective in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, it would allow us to better control disease activity, whilst preserving muscle and bone to reduce the risks of fractures and falls.”

The study team have now secured further funding with the Foundation to Eradicate Duchenne that will allow the research team to better understand the processes whereby Vamorolone is able to protect muscle and bone in patients with inflammatory disease. 

Through their involvement with the Birmingham Rheumatology group under Professor Adam Croft, and the NIHR Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre’s Inflammatory Arthritis Theme, the team will now work with clinicians to examine the possibility for new clinical trials to examine Vamorolone in rheumatoid arthritis patients. 

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BHP announces exciting new role for its outgoing Chair

Written by Louise Stanley on . Posted in Birmingham Health Partners.

Birmingham Health Partners (BHP) has announced its Chair, Jonathan Pearson, will be stepping down at the end of his two-year term in September 2025, following his appointment as Chair of BHP member Health Innovation West Midlands (HIWM).

A highly experienced health business leader, Jonathan has chaired BHP for the past 18 months and has overseen significant progress and growth within the partnership – most notably, a new five-year strategy and the addition of Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust as its ninth member.

Professor Lorraine Harper, Managing Director of BHP said: “We are incredibly grateful to Jonathan for his strategic leadership of BHP during a period of substantial change for our organisation, and look forward to continuing to work with him in his new role as Chair of our member HIWM.”

Professor Neil Hanley, Executive Director of BHP and Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Head of the College of Medicine and Health at the University of Birmingham, said: “I would also like to thank Jonathan for his hard work, enthusiasm and friendship over the last couple of years. Jonathan’s appointment to HIWM is a great opportunity to further strengthen relationships and partnerships across the West Midlands, and we are delighted that he will continue to contribute to Birmingham’s health and life sciences in his new role. He has a passion for healthcare innovation that sits at the heart of the Government’s ambitions for the NHS. We will soon begin our search for Jonathan’s successor, a process which will be led by Professor Sir Bruce Keogh.”

Jonathan commented: “I would like to thank the BHP Board, Neil, Lorraine and all the BHP team for their support and their excellent work in leading and reshaping the partnership over the last two years.  I wish BHP ongoing success and I look forward to continuing to work with the partnership in my new role.”

HIWM is one of 15 Health Innovation networks across England, working in partnership with NHS trusts, SMEs, care homes and universities to implement new healthcare and life sciences innovations at scale and pace. By enabling the healthcare system to take advantage of innovations that can help to save time, money and lives, HIWM is working to bring the West Midlands the future of health and social care, today.

Largest ever UK surgical trial aims to reduce post-surgery infections

Written by Louise Stanley on . Posted in Clinical trials.

More than £10m of funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has been awarded to BHP founder-member the University of Birmingham to run an ambitious trial which aims to recruit 26,000 patients from 100 sites across the UK in the next five years.

ROSSINI-Platform is a large multi-arm, multi-stage platform trial, led by Professor Thomas Pinkney and the Birmingham Clinical Trials Unit, that will help experts understand how to reduce wound infections that can occur following operations.

Wound infections, also referred to as Surgical Site Infections (SSI), are the commonest complication after surgery and affect up to one in four patients undergoing surgery each year. These infections carry an estimated cost to the NHS of at least £700m each year.

Professor Thomas Pinkney from the School of Health Sciences at the University of Birmingham, and Chief Investigator of the ROSSINI-Platform trial said: “An adult living in the UK will have an average of four operations during their lifetime. Up to a quarter of operations may result in a surgical site infection (SSI) – a post-operative infection of the wound – which can have significant negative impacts on patient recovery.

“We know that infections at different operation sites can cause different types of challenges. For example, an infection following a caesarean section can impact on the mothers’ ability to bond with their newborn. An infection following amputation could mean that the patient is no longer suitable to be fitted for a prosthetic, meaning they might become a wheelchair user.

“Post pandemic the waiting lists for surgeries are higher than ever, so an evidence-based approach to improving recovery times and reducing preventable complications and their associated risk of readmissions has never been more necessary.”

ROSSINI-Platform will look at various interventions to reduce the rates of surgical site infection, and the design of the trial will enable the team to focus on those that show evidence of benefit.

In total, 18 interventions are being assessed in the trial, with examples including:

  • using state-of-the-art wound cleaning solutions during surgery
  • using special wound dressings after surgery,
  • applying antibiotics differently during surgery,
  • changing gloves and instruments at certain points during surgery,
  • waxing or epilation around the surgical site

In addition, the trial will test these interventions across multiple operation types areas such as heart surgery, brain surgery, caesarean section and leg amputation, to find what works best to reduce infection in each setting.

Sue’s story

Sue Blackwell, 49, from Liverpool, has faced health issues over the years connected with inflammatory bowel disease and has had a total of 13 operations. Several operations have resulted in SSIs requiring antibiotics, but one infection led to unexpected complications that impacted Sue’s life for years.

Following a planned completion proctectomy, Sue developed a serious infection leading to being housebound for six months and losing control of her bladder for ten weeks.

Sue had to wait for district nurses to come and change her dressings twice each day, and this had a significant impact on her life. To add to the ordeal, Sue had to undergo additional surgeries to address the complications and experienced problems with wound draining for two years. The seemingly never-ending round of surgeries and treatments continued, and it took a total of eleven years for the wound to fully heal.

Sue is currently doing a PhD at the University of Birmingham and will use her lived experience to inform the ROSSINI-Platform trial as a public involvement representative.

Speaking of her involvement in both developing and delivering the study, Sue said:

“A lot of patients think that someone somewhere along the line is at fault, which isn’t usually the case. SSIs are very common and we don’t know enough about what we can do to stop them. With this trial, all the interventions are already in use, we know they are all safe, we’re just testing them against each other in a smart way, similar to a world cup tournament, to see which comes out on top.”

In addition to delaying or impeding patient recovery, SSIs are responsible for extending hospital stays and hospital readmissions. SSIs are a significant problem for the NHS, due to increased treatment costs and resource usage both in hospital and in the community. SSI is now the most common healthcare associated infection and costs the NHS at least £700million per year. It is therefore a priority for patients and the health service.

The trial team hope that the findings will help countries around the world to implement the most effective ways to prevent SSI following different types of common surgeries. This will help speed up recovery, get patients discharged from hospital sooner freeing up bed space, and in many countries around the world will save countless lives.

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Birmingham teenager first in UK to receive groundbreaking diabetes treatment

Written by Louise Stanley on . Posted in Birmingham Health Partners, Early diagnosis and detection, Inflammation and chronic disease.

A young patient identified by the ELSA study as having early stages of Type 1 Diabetes, has received treatment to delay the condition.

Sam, aged 14 and from Kings Norton, was the first to receive the new drug, Teplizumab, at the Clinical Research Facility at Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

Sam’s dad, Chris, has Type 1 diabetes and knowing that family members are more likely to develop the disease, Sam was screened for early stages of the condition and learnt he would develop Type 1 Diabetes. However, there was good news for the family when Sam was offered Teplizumab, a new treatment to delay the onset of the chronic illness. Past trials have proven that Teplizumab delays insulin-dependent diabetes for up to three years.

Sam’s mum, Louise, explained: “I know from Sam’s dad just how stressful life with Type 1 Diabetes is, having to constantly monitor your blood sugar and carry insulin with you at all times. We’re so happy that Sam doesn’t have to worry about his blood sugar yet, especially while he is doing his GCSEs. He can just be a normal teenager.”

Teplizumab is prescribed on a case-by-case basis for children who have been recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and are at early stages.

Dr Renuka Dias, a researcher from University of Birmingham’s Department of Applied Health Sciences and Consultant Paediatric Endocrinologist working at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital, said: “Being able to delay insulin-dependent diabetes will have a huge impact on a child’s life. It means we are letting children have a normal childhood for much longer.”

Dr Dias and her specialist team at the Clinical Research Centre who were involved in Sam’s care have also been integral to a first-of-its-kind study, led by the University of Birmingham, to screen children aged 3 to 13 to find out their risk of developing type 1 diabetes. The study aims to allow treatment to begin sooner and, as in Sam’s case, delay the start of the condition.

The ELSA study has screened over 20,000 children in the UK for Type 1 Diabetes in the last two years. The study is now scaling up throughout Europe.

Unfortunately, it often takes a child becoming seriously unwell for a diagnosis of Type1 Diabetes to be made. Through the study, families identified with a child who is at-risk can begin educating themselves about the condition and learning about the options for management before they find themselves in that crisis situation.

Support and education has been made available to study participants. In addition, some children, like Sam, will be eligible to explore treatment options that could delay the onset of the condition.

Parth Narendran, Professor of Diabetes Medicine at the University of Birmingham and lead for the Type 1 Diabetes clinical service at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB), said: “We hope that the ELSA study will lead to the roll-out of Type 1 Diabetes early detection programme for children in the UK and that many more children could then benefit from potential treatments to delay Type 1 Diabetes in future.”

Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospitals, the University of Birmingham, and University Hospitals Birmingham – which operates QEHB – are founder-members of Birmingham Health Partners. Fellow BHP members Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is an ELSA Study partner.

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