University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust (UHPNT) is the largest acute trust on the South West Peninsula, delivering a full range of general hospital services to 270,000 people living in south and west Devon and Cornwall. Together with Livewell Southwest, an independent social enterprise, UHPNT is an anchor institution in a local integrated care system with almost 10,000 staff.
The Research & Development Department employs almost 100 people, delivering a portfolio of 550 clinical trials per annum (approximately 50 of them commercial) and with access to a comprehensive range of support services: endoscopy, imaging, pathology and combined labs, pharmacy and aseptics. The purpose-built Lind Research Centre provides a six-bed ward facility with capacity for overnight stay, a hot lab and genetically modified compound level 2 capability.
UHPNT has a dedicated Innovation Lead and an Innovation Support Team who work closely with the PHIA and have a track record of supporting a wide range of innovations. Innovators are supported to gather evidence to define the benefits and costs/savings of their ideas. The innovations are triaged by a multi-disciplinary Innovations Panel. Innovators are linked with individuals or teams in the hospital or wider healthcare and scientific community to help develop and implement their ideas. Innovations may be passed to the Trust Innovation Group for more in-depth support or resourcing, including with intellectual property protection and commercialisation.
Current collaborations include:
- A range of licensed ophthalmic instruments, including Malosa Intravitreal Injection Guides
- A patent on the use of an oesophageal pacing catheter to establish the success of a heart ablation transforming a surgical intervention into an outpatient appointment
- Partnership with a local company to produce a device to support multiple infusion pumps during patient transfers
- Production of a carrier to improve the experience of bereaved relatives
Innovation areas:
- Medical devices to improve the quality, safety and efficiency of patient care
- Healthcare application software
- Clinical research across a full range of secondary and tertiary specialities with a large, stable patient base
- Trialling commercial innovations in the early stages of development
- UHPNT is keen to support new researchers – both medical and non-medical.
