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Tackling the COVID-19 crisis together: The RIIC Hubs Network
The Research, Innovation & Improvement Co-ordination (RIIC) Hubs Network, made up of seven Regional Partnership Boards and three NHS Wales Trusts, has been established over the past 12 months by the Hubs, Academies & Innovation Team within Welsh Government’s Health and Social Services Group. Its aim is to help the acceleration and support of local innovation and partnerships capable of driving new models of care and approaches to integrated working.
Welsh Government provided funding for this unique and innovative coordination Hub Network to enable them to bring people, resources and partners together quickly, in order to respond to specific opportunities and challenges. There was, and remains, a clear need to seek out activity that best improves outcomes for service users, specifically through prevention, early diagnosis and more accurate intervention to really achieve ‘what matters’ most. These Hubs have quickly settled into the R,D&I ecosystem, and despite being part of the Welsh Government’s new wave of transformative initiatives being rolled out under the banner of A Healthier Wales, they have found themselves at the heart of the regional and local response to tackling COVID-19.
The current health emergency has presented a real-time opportunity for the network to throw itself in at the deep end. It is working with all partners to identify new, innovative models and approaches to health and care during a time of great stress and strain on services and the people who use them.
The Cwm Taf Morgannwg Social Service and Wellbeing Partnership Board (CTMSSWPB) brings together Bridgend, RCT and Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Councils, Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board, the Third Sector, Independent Sector and service users and carers. It takes a strong, unified approach to develop new models of care in order to deliver better, integrated services for the approximate 450,000 citizens across Cwm Taf Morgannwg.
The CTMSSWPB Research, Innovation & Improvement Co-ordination Hub was established in early 2020 to identify and support the Research, Innovation & Improvement activity and to promote coordinated approaches with all partner organisations. Due to COVID-19, the focus switched almost overnight to supporting colleagues across multiple organisations so that they can develop new ways of working and approaches to service delivery, such as:
ThinkTank19: Peer2Peer Community for Self-isolating NHS Medical Staff The TechForce19 programme funded by NHSx called for technology solutions that could be deployed rapidly to help support vulnerable, elderly and self-isolating people. With a local industry partner, Simply Do Ideas, an application for a staff based model was submitted and was one of only 18 projects funded from over 1600 applications from across the UK. This called for a rapid sprint style project which was rolled out to over 100 staff in five days.
CERi Chatbot Velindre Cancer Trust worked with industry partners, Meridian IT and IBM, to build on existing work and develop a prototype ChatBot called CERi. It is available to interact with NHS staff, patients and the public, responding to user questions and recording instances when the tool doesn’t work (i.e. when it is unable to answer questions or answer incorrectly). CERI is still in development but is already seeing significant increased user interaction, with over 400 chat episodes recorded in one day. It is expected that this level of interaction will continue to grow rapidly, even in the short term, as the team develops different CERi access points for the public, patients and staff.
3D Print Lab Dental laboratory staff have looked at creative ways to repurpose the existing dental and maxillary laboratory equipment at the Prince Charles Hospital, in order to produce a number of 3D printed items that can support health care teams. They have initially produced visors and other non-clinical items such as door handles that allow hand free opening. As other clinician colleagues became aware of the lab’s capacity, the team started working to produce replacement equipment, worn components and other small parts, such as valves and equipment covers. The project has now secured over £200k in Accelerate funding to support development of an Advanced Physical and Digital Engineering Hub, which will be able to work with partners in the future.
The North Wales Regional Partnership Board
The North Wales Research, Innovation and Improvement Coordination Hub was approved in July 2019, and was just about to formally launch in March 2020 when everything changed. The new staff arrived at empty offices, grabbed their IT equipment and began their socially-distanced induction. The plans for the hub had to quickly be re-written to take account of this new world. The first priority was to directly support the COVID-19 response, so the team have been helping to build Enfys hospitals, design PPE calculators and support vulnerable people directly. Next, the team looked at how they could coordinate research and innovation activity to support the emergency response. Their Specialist Librarian has been keeping up to date with the latest research and guidance and publishing a regular summary. They have also started to capture the innovation that has happened as a result of COVID-19 in North Wales. There have been huge changes in the way digital technology is used, from enabling home working and virtual meetings to rolling out ‘Attend Anywhere’ in order to provide patient care over a secure video link. The Regional Partnership Board provided care home residents and patients in hospitals across the region with iPads, to help them keep in touch with friends and family while visits are restricted during the coronavirus outbreak. This idea grew out of a project run to provide people in the community with iPads to help manage their health conditions and reduce social isolation. This was an example of quickly adapting and redesigning an existing project within the Community Services Transformation Programme and of joint working between local authorities, the health board, Macmillan and the Wales Co-operative Centre.
Other changes have included extended opening hours, improved communications and partnership working, along with a huge range of creative and innovative community support. In the next phase the team will learn more about how and why these changes happened, and will use this experience to build a better and more resilient health and social care system for the future.
