Last Thursday, National Medical Director for NHS England, Professor Sir Stephen Powis, visited our Trust as part of a trip to the region to explore innovative practice in health and care.

Sir Stephen took the afternoon to meet teams and see innovation in clinical practice at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary led by our Medical Director, Neeraj Bhasin, and Consultant, Graham Walsh, who is also the Medical Director at Health Innovation Yorkshire and Humber.

The visit included looking at innovation in our new Emergency Department, successful digital advancements, our achievements around elective recovery, and a visit to radiology to see how we’re using artificial intelligence.

Neeraj said: “Our teams are fantastic at identifying and embracing innovative practice for the benefit of our patients. It’s wonderful to be able to showcase this work on a national level and demonstrate how, alongside the clinical pressures, the team continue to drive their services forward to ensure we strive to deliver the most up to date care to our patients. Thank you to everyone involved.”

Graham said: “My role at Health Innovation Yorkshire and Humber involves bringing new ideas and innovation in clinical practice to the forefront. This was a fantastic opportunity to show what we’re doing as Trust and how we are using it to improve the health and experience of our patients.”

The visit was hosted by Health Innovation Yorkshire and Humber, and included other local partners, including NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB).

Sir Stephen thanked colleagues on social media after his visit, writing: "It was wonderful to meet so many people and learn more about your digital health innovation journey. Some really impressive work making a big difference to both patients and staff."

Our Trust was also given a mention by MP for Huddersfield, Harpreet Uppal in Prime Minister's Questions who quoted our fantastic reduction to reduce elective waiting lists, and asked that the NHS learn from our innovative approach. In response Keir Starmer said the achievements of the hard working staff at our Trust prove that waiting lists can be brought down with innovation, and that they are determined to spread this best practice across the NHS. 

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