• As living and working during the pandemic becomes the norm, the AHSN Network has published a collection of wellbeing resources to help with your physical and mental wellbeing and that of your teams. The resource pack is full of advice, tips and fun exercises anyone can try. Featuring a curated selection of resources from AHSN [...]

  • A report has been published that summarises the work carried out by Patient Safety Collaboratives (PSCs) in 2020 and early 2021 to support the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 patient safety response looks at the roll-out of two patient self-monitoring pathways, COVID Oximetry @home and COVID virtual wards, both designed to allow vulnerable [...]

  • Meet the Innovator: Nick de Pennington, Ufonia

    Meet Nick de Pennington, CEO and Founder of Ufonia, an autonomous telemedicine platform supported by Oxford AHSN and Yorkshire & Humber AHSN. Nick discusses how his innovation supports clinicians to avoid burnout and is assisting the NHS to manage the backlog built up by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, as well as his background as a [...]

  • The AHSN Network 2020-2021 Impact Report highlights how the innovation delivery arm of the NHS has benefitted more than 258,000 patients through its national programmes during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The report highlights outstanding impacts achieved by AHSNs and evidences how they are driving adoption and spread in healthcare innovation, transforming patient outcomes, enabling efficiencies, [...]

  • A report capturing the AHSN experience during the coronavirus pandemic has been published as part of the AHSN’s Health and Care Reset campaign to inform leaders across the NHS as it enters the next phase of the pandemic response. The AHSN Network Health and Care Reset Campaign was launched to collate and spread learnings and insights [...]

  • The AHSN Network has partnered with the South Asian Health Foundation to set up a series of webinars to support learning and exchange opportunities with clinicians from the UK and India on COVID-19. You can find all the webinars on this AHSN Network YouTube playlist or follow these individual links: Wednesday 5 May: Remote monitoring [...]

  • This webinar highlighted the association between oxygen saturations and COVID-19 which underpins the need for the COVID Oximetry @home pathway. Hosted by the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Academic Health Science Network (AHSN Network), it shared a collaborative approach to monitor and manage patients at risk of sudden deterioration. The session was chaired [...]

  • A rapid-learning report on the role of Patient Safety Collaboratives (PSCs) during the pandemic has been published by the AHSN Network. PSCs are just one part of the health and care system which responded quickly to the immediate crisis from COVID-19 in March. They reprioritised their day-to-day work and took on new programmes at speed, [...]

  • This webinar on Thursday 9 July, 1-2pm was jointly presented by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) and the Academic Health Science Network. Chaired by Dr Jonathan Leach OBE, RCGP Hon Sec and COVID lead, with Dr Mike Linney, Paediatrican and Registrar of the RCPCH, [...]

  • A toolkit for healthcare staff has been published by the National Tracheostomy Safety Project (NTSP) in collaboration with the AHSN Network and the National Patient Safety Improvement Programmes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, to support healthcare staff who are looking after patients with tracheostomies. The number of patients requiring relatively prolonged ventilatory support in [...]

  • COVID oximetry and virtual wards

    Detecting the early signs of deterioration in patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 is a significant challenge for health and social care teams. As patients at risk of poorer outcomes can be identified by reduced oxygen saturation levels, the ability to recognise early decreases in blood oxygen levels before the patient becomes symptomatic is [...]

  • Patient safety resources for primary care

    Patient Safety Collaboratives (PSCs) identify and spread safer care initiatives in their local health and care systems. As part of our response to the COVID-19 pandemic, here are some information and resources to support people working in primary care. Go back to patient safety during COVID-19. Pulse oximetry and remote monitoring guidance COVID virtual ward [...]

  • Patient safety resources for care homes

    Patient Safety Collaboratives (PSCs) identify and spread safer care initiatives in their local health and care systems. As part of our response to the COVID-19 pandemic, here are some information and resources to support staff in care homes. Go back to patient safety during COVID-19. Spotting serious illness and sepsis Some people are more at [...]

  • Spotting the early ‘soft signs’ of deterioration and sepsis

    If you work in a residential care home, or are a professional or family carer supporting someone in their own home, there are many tools available help you recognise physical deterioration and take the appropriate actions. You can read an overview of spotting serious illness and sepsis. These films explain the soft signs of deterioration [...]

  • Using the National Early Warning Score (NEWS) to identify people whose condition may be deteriorating

    The National Early Warning Score (NEWS) is used by GPs, all ambulance services and most acute hospital trusts to check patients who may be at increasing risk of deterioration or developing sepsis. You can read an overview of spotting serious illness and sepsis. How NEWS works NEWS has been created by the Royal College of [...]

  • This webinar on Wednesday 27 May 2020 shared examples of current good practice and collaboration between primary care and care homes, including resources to support virtual ward rounds. Chaired by Dr Jonathan Leach OBE, RCGP Hon Sec and COVID lead, with Anita Astle MBE, Managing Director of Wren Hall Nursing Home in Nottingham, and Dr [...]

  • The assessment of patients who are unwell with COVID-19 or other causes presents a significant challenge for GPs and clinicians working in primary care. The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and the AHSN Network held a joint webinar looking at the role of oximetry and other physiology in that assessment on Wednesday 29 April [...]

  • Support for patients being discharged from hospital with COPD

    People with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are at increased risk from coronavirus. The British Thoracic Society (BTS) has developed COPD admission and discharge care bundles with the aim of improving care, helping patients manage their condition at home, and reducing readmissions. Acute hospital trusts are being encouraged to deliver all appropriate elements of the [...]

  • Patient safety during COVID

    Patient Safety Collaboratives and the Academic Health Science Networks which host them, are supporting their local health and care systems during the response to the COVID-19 outbreak in hospitals, care homes and the community. There are resources available here for people working in: Care homes Primary care  Hospitals, mental health and community services  The AHSN Network [...]

  • Health Education England has published a set of materials and films which aim to support staff through difficult conversations arising from the COVID-19 outbreak. The AHSN Network was part of a small group of people that helped pull this resource together in less than two weeks. The framework includes posters and films based on the [...]

  • Spotting serious illness and sepsis

    Some people are more at risk than others of becoming unwell very quickly and developing a serious illness such as sepsis. This is known as ‘deterioration’ and it is important that anyone who cares for individuals who are at risk of deterioration knows how to spot the signs, especially during the current COVID-19 outbreak. This [...]