Have you heard about Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs)?

As a clinician this will be a significant development locally impacting on how research and innovative practice is implemented in the East Midlands. 

AHSNs arose as a solution to the challenge posed in December 2011 by the Prime Minister David Cameron who launched 'Innovation Health and Wealth'. Mr Cameron set a challenge to the NHS to act differently and create a coherent networked approach that incorporates the academic, public and private sector, so as to bring about a step change in healthcare services and generate wealth.

AHSNs aim to bind together education, clinical research, informatics, industry, training, and health and care delivery. Their stated aim is to improve health outcomes by translating research into practice and making sure all parts of the system are working as one.

Around 15 AHSNs will be licensed, each covering populations of between 3-5 million. The East Midlands bid has multiple partners including Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust.

The timetable is for all AHSNs to be licensed by March 2013; to develop infrastructure, plans and ways of working from April 2013 – September 2013; and to be fully operational by October 2013.

If you want a quick summary here is the background from two resources:

• a DH summary of the proposal
• the East Midlands AHSN bid website

To see the kind of clinician involvement and benefits for patients, click on this link and go to 'Clinical Vignettes' of a mood disorders example from Professor Richard Morriss (pp38-42)