Over the last few months, our Head of Digital Systems Sonia Townend has been working with Northern Health Futures Hub, otherwise known as NortHFutures, and Dr Matt Cooper, a researcher from Newcastle University, to pilot a series of workshops designed to help those involved in social prescribing to harness the information at their fingertips so they can use it to secure more opportunities.

With several of these learning clinics having now taken place, in this blog post Sonia tells us about the themes the team has encountered so far.

Hear from our Perioperative Social Prescribing (PROSPeR) project partner Angela Telford, a Specialist Inpatient Pain Nurse with the ‘Waiting Well’ team at The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, who sat down with us to explain how the type of support advocated by Ways to Wellness through all our prototypes, is making a huge difference to patients waiting for surgery.

Getting from an innovative idea to a deliverable prototype can be a nuanced process that involves many factors. Our Head of Development Simon Bromhead, explains the Ways to Wellness approach to making it happen.

The term innovation is used a lot when talking about health these days. Frequently coupled with digital and the evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is often viewed only through a technical lens, and technological advancements are undoubtedly part of the picture. But valuable aspects that can be overlooked in this conversation include creativity, collaboration and co-production, which can be equally crucial to advancement.