A consortium of NHS Trusts, CCGs, local authorities, Universities and Industry groups across Kent, Surrey and Sussex have been working together over the last 6 months to put together a bid for funding to establish a KSS Academic Health Science Network (AHSN).
The concept behind these networks was outlined in the DoH report ‘Innovation, Health and Wealth’ published last December. The intention is that the whole of England will be covered by around 15 AHSNs by the end of 2013, each funded at around £10m p.a. The goal of an AHSN will be to improve patient and population health outcomes by translating research into practice and developing and implementing integrated health care systems.
The ASHN will be designed to facilitate collaborate working between all healthcare stakeholders to achieve this goal and to drive adoption of innovative practice at pace and scale. KentHealth has been part of the steering group organising the bid and has had direct input into the research workstream.
The submission for the KSS AHSN bid was submitted for the October 1st deadline. The next stage of the approval process is a review by a central panel of the NHS Commissioning Board. Interviews for complete AHSN proposals will be held in November. An initial tranche of successful AHSNs will be awarded funding from 01 April 2013.