BHP New Consultant scheme – Mark’s story

Written by Louise Stanley on 05/07/2025. Posted in Birmingham Health Partners, Uncategorized.

BHP New Consultant Scheme – Mark’s story

Dr Mark Openshaw is a Consultant Medical Oncologist at BHP founding member University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust. His BHP New Consultants award, which commenced in 2024 and will be completed in 2026, is supporting him to deliver his research into the development of circulating tumour DNA for colon cancer.

What attracted you to apply for the BHP New Consultant’s Award?

Having protected time for research – and formal recognition of its value – is essential to progressing my work on circulating tumour DNA. The BHP scheme offered a strong initial opportunity to secure dedicated research time, alongside support from experienced academic clinicians, which made it an ideal platform to help sustain and grow my research career.

What are the main benefits of this award to you?

The award provides a unique combination of structured research time and financial support, including funding for consumables. The three-year allocation of a protected research day enables me to carry out hands-on lab work and fully engage in grant writing, collaboration, and strategic research meetings – activities that are vital to advancing my research programme.

How challenging has it been to protect your research time?

Balancing research with clinical responsibilities is always a challenge. That said, with support from my Clinical Service Lead, I’ve been able to formally include a full research day in my job plan by reducing some clinical duties. It does require discipline to ensure that clinical work doesn’t spill over into research time, but having it clearly defined in the job plan makes a significant difference.

Do you feel that the award is supporting your career development and aspirations?

Absolutely. Without this dedicated research time, I would not have the capacity to meaningfully progress my research. The award has been instrumental in supporting my academic development and enabling the pursuit of longer-term research goals.

What would your advice be to anyone thinking of applying for a BHP award?

Start by refining your research question and connecting early with a supportive senior academic who shares your interests. Speak to previous awardees to understand the process and expectations. If possible, begin developing your project now – laying that groundwork can make a huge difference when the fellowship starts.

Integrated clinic pilot shows potential to cut costs while improving care for children in deprived areas

Written by Louise Stanley on 02/07/2025. Posted in Birmingham Health Partners, Health inequalities.

New research suggests that integrating health and early years support could ease pressure on NHS services while delivering better outcomes for families.

Undertaken by the Birmingham Health Partners (BHP) Evaluation Service, a detailed assessment of the Sparkbrook Children’s Zone (SCZ) in Birmingham found indications that integrating health care with early years and family support in deprived communities may be a cost-effective alternative to standard primary care.

The model-based economic analysis shows that children and young people accessing the SCZ clinic were less likely to attend A&E and require social care support compared to those receiving standard care, with an average cost saving per patient of £44 – achieved mainly by reducing referrals to children’s social care and emergency health services.

Sparkbrook, one of Birmingham’s most deprived neighbourhoods, is the first area to pilot this joined-up approach. The clinic brings together primary care, early years services, and family support under one roof, aiming to provide more holistic and preventative care.

Dr Mark Monahan, Lecturer in Health Economics at the University of Birmingham, explained: “Rising rates of child poverty, mental health issues and emergency hospital use show that our current systems aren’t working well enough for children and families in deprived areas. This pilot shows real promise in delivering better outcomes at lower cost, but we urgently need further evaluation to build the evidence base.”

The analysis showed a lower proportion of emergency department visits among SCZ patients (1.7%) compared to those in standard primary care (2.9%), driven by earlier intervention and integrated support, with SCZ patients were 40% less likely to attend A&E than those in standard care. This reduced reliance on emergency and social care services translated into significant potential savings, even with the limited data currently available. Early Help services embedded in the clinic were a key driver of cost-effectiveness by addressing complex family needs earlier.

While these findings are based on preliminary modelling, the results support NHS England’s ambition to develop more community-based, joined-up care models for children and young people.

The study also highlights the need for more robust and long-term data to support the national roll-out of similar models. It calls on policymakers, researchers and practitioners to work together to address evidence gaps and ensure these innovations are scalable, sustainable and capable of tackling entrenched health inequalities.

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.

The BHP CARP scheme – Anna’s story

Written by Louise Stanley on 01/07/2025. Posted in Birmingham Health Partners.

The BHP CARP scheme – Anna’s story

Dr Anna Seale is Paediatric Consultant at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, part of BHP founder-member Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust. Through her BHP Clinical Academic Research Partnerships (CARP) award she progressed the PRAADA2 study, seeking to understand the Impact of a Prenatally diagnosed isolated Right Aortic And Double Arch. We spoke to her about her recent experience on the CARP scheme, which she completed between 2023-2025.

What attracted you to apply for the CARP award?

I am a full-time consultant in fetal and paediatric cardiology. I have always been academically active but really struggled to keep this going in the current era, especially with the demands of clinical work in the NHS. The CARP award helped me build on the academic work I had already been working on and gave me the time and recognition for what I was doing.

What were the main benefits of securing this award?

Links with the University of Birmingham. Birmingham Children’s Hospital is not on the same site as the University and previously I had very little connection with its academics. Awards like the CARP award can link research-interested clinicians to people and infrastructure of the university.

How challenging was it to protect your research time during the award?

My medical colleagues were really supportive of my CARP fellowship and enabled me to have time for academia. However, changes within the NHS, such as reduced administrative support for consultants, made protected time challenging. This was particularly true towards the end of the post.

What are your aims for your ongoing research activity, now that this award has ended?

During the award, I was able to collaborate with other academics in different institutions, and I have had formal roles in UK and European Associations linked with my speciality. This has led to further projects which I will continue. The work on my CARP project has also generated data and ideas for further work and grant applications.

Do you feel that the award has helped you with your career development and aspirations?

Without the CARP fellowship I would not have been able to publish the work that I, and others, have produced. Publishing academic work is hugely important in developing an academic profile not only for myself, but also our institution.

What would your advice be to anyone thinking of applying for a BHP award?

Think carefully about what you are going to do, be flexible that things may change as you learn more about your project, use the resources of the academic institutions, and recognise that this is only the start of a longer journey. Just do it!

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 25/06/2025. 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 23/06/2025. 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

BHP announces exciting new role for its outgoing Chair

Written by Louise Stanley on 14/03/2025. 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.