Professor Gary Ford Chair of the AHSN Network and Chief Executive of Oxford AHSN
The AHSN Network has an extensive history in working to tackle the major cardiovascular risk conditions that if untreated can lead to heart attacks, strokes and other adverse cardiovascular events.
Since 2015, all 15 AHSNs have supported work on the detection and anticoagulation of atrial fibrillation (AF) leading to the avoidance of over 11,000 strokes.
Subsequently we have coordinated work improving lipid lowering management and improving the detection of familial hypercholesterolemia (FH). People are now receiving more intensive cholesterol lowering therapy including innovative drugs in some cases, to reduce their risk of developing heart attacks or stroke.
However, the pandemic had an adverse impact on the detection and management of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors including hypertension. In June 2022, nearly 2 million fewer people with hypertension were recorded as being treated to target compared with the previous year (Quality and Outcomes Framework 20/21). This is why NHS England commissioned the AHSN Network to deliver this new national Blood Pressure Optimisation (BPO) programme building on our CVD portfolio of work to tackle this pressing health need.
It demonstrates our collective impact in delivering on our ambition to transform as many lives as possible through the rapid uptake of high value innovations. I extend my congratulations and thanks to all my colleagues from across the Network for their unwavering commitment to ensuring more patients benefit faster from innovation and service improvements that we support the health system to adopt.
We are delighted to publish the Innovation for Healthcare Inequalities Programme (InHIP) impact and learning report. NHS England’s InHIP programme is a collaboration between the Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC), NHS England’s National Healthcare Inequalities Improvement Programme and the Health Innovation Network, delivered in partnership with integrated care systems (ICSs). It aims to address local healthcare [...]
Download our Impact Report In 2023-24, as a Network, we delivered national programmes and initiatives that benefitted over 1,228,000 patients, created wealth and health by leveraging £467m through our support to innovators, and worked alongside health and care teams to tackle some of the NHS’s most pressing challenges including cardiovascular disease, patient safety and [...]
We are delighted to welcome Dr Dominique Allwood as the new Chief Executive Officer for Imperial College Health Partners (ICHP). Dominique joins ICHP from neighbouring health innovation network UCLPartners, where she is currently Chief Medical Officer. Her focus is on clinical engagement across the partnership and with the Health Innovation Network Clinical Executives in her [...]
