Doctors awarded NHS England Fellowship for Innovation

Health Enterprise East (HEE) has congratulated Drs Maryanne Mariyaselvam and Peter Young of Queen Elizabeth Hospitals Kings Lynn (QEHKL), on becoming fellows of the NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA) programme. This scheme sets out to get evidenced healthcare innovations adopted at scale and pace nationally, ultimately making them more widely available to patients. Both Dr Mariyaselvam’s and Dr Young’s technologies were originally progressed with support of HEE. They join a group of 17 healthcare pioneers from the UK and abroad identified to receive national support to roll out their technologies, processes and models of care to patients, hospitals and GP practices throughout England.

Dr Mariyaselvam’s innovation, the Non-Injectable Arterial Connector (NIC), will improve the safety and care of all patients requiring an arterial line in operating theatres and intensive care. Dr Young’s innovation, the PneuX Pneumonia Prevention System, is designed to stop ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), the leading cause of hospital-acquired mortality in intensive care units.

In a joint comment Drs Mariyaselvam and Young said, "Innovation should be at the heart of the NHS, as should mechanisms for spreading innovative solutions to patients quickly and effectively. We are delighted that both technologies have been selected for the NIA programme and with the support of NHS England, we look forward to seeing them scaled and implemented nationally across the NHS. As a Member Trust, QEHKL is thankful to HEE for its help in the development of the projects to date and in reaching this significant milestone."