On 13 June 2017, the Academy’s FORUM, supported by the Centre for the Advancement of Sustainable Medical Innovation (CASMI), the Medical Research Council and the National Institute for Health Research, held a workshop to explore a research agenda for accelerating access to medical innovation.
Chaired by Sir John Tooke FMedSci and introduced by Sir John Bell FMedSci FRS HonFREng, this workshop brought together participants from across academia, NHS, funding bodies, charities, regulators, commissioners, Academic Health Science Network (AHSNs) and industry, amongst others, to explore how the research community can drive access to medical innovation.
Over the course of the day, delegates discussed the key challenges of achieving widespread implementation, adoption and diffusion of medical innovation at the level of the individual and the system, and the value proposition of such innovations. Speakers explored topics such as the importance of patients creating a ‘pull’ into the system, as well as the challenges of assigning value to new innovations and how the NHS system can apply lessons from engineering to improve efficiency and health outcomes. Delegates then convened at the end of the day to agree the important ‘known unknowns’, that is – the key research questions that need to be addressed to overcome the challenges to uptake and adoption of medical innovation.
A full report of the meeting will be made available in due course. To find out more about the event, please visit the FORUM events page.
Academy of Medical Sciences' FORUM
The Academy of Medical Sciences’ FORUM was established in 2003 to catalyse connections across industry, academia and the healthcare sector. Since then, a range of FORUM activities and events have brought together researchers, research funders and research users from across academia, industry, NHS, Government, and the charity, healthcare and regulatory sectors. Further information and details of future events can be found on the FORUM homepage.