ARCFEST shines at the Lighthouse
On Wednesday 8th March the latest ARCFEST took place at community venue The Liverpool Lighthouse, located in the shadow of the Liverpool Football Club stadium.
Professor Mark Gabbay, Director of ARC NWC, opened the event with an update on progress the organisation has made against its key objectives, plans for the proposed 18 month extension of ARC NWC and highlighted the continued challenges the organisation is facing.
The wider aim of the event was to view the suggested priorities and proposals for the work of the proposed ARC NWC extension, which will extend the lifetime of the organisation into 2026, and for all parts of the collaboration to provide their viewpoints and input.
Theme teams from across the ARC NWC and representatives of key projects such as CoREN, presented their ideas and proposals and the audience were given the chance to respond by identifying what elements of the proposals they felt the collaboration should be doing more and less of, in addition to any priorities the organisation was missing that were urgent for its members, responsible for delivering front line services.
Introductory presentation from Professor Mark Gabbay
Equitable place based Health and Care
The Community Research and Engagement Network (CoREN)
Health and Care Across the Life Course
Methodological Innovation, Development, Adaptation & Support Theme
IMPlementation and Capacity building Team (IMPaCT)
Michelle Stephens, Head of Research & Innovation at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, has been a member organisation of the ARC for many years. She said: “We have had many interns through the internship programme and came to the ARCFEST to suggest a priority proposal for an Innovation Intern Programme.”
Working with ARC colleagues and the Innovation Agency, it is proposed the Innovation Intern Programme would mirror the current research internship programme in many ways and have three main pathways for individuals from member organisations to undertake:
– a small-scale project addressing an element of innovation through research and evaluation
– a SIFT-IT (Summary of InFormation for Technology, Innovation and Transformation) which supports the development of relevant, accessible summaries of existing evidence and an implementation plan to bring the innovation into practice
– preparation of a robust application to a relevant funding call such as a knowledge mobilisation fellowship or a knowledge transfer partnership
This work is not based on the design of new products but innovations that support the building capacity and capability for improving patient care. ELHT looks forward to working the ARC and other member organisations in taking this forward.
Professor Gabbay added: “We have got representation from across the collaboration here today and we will take all of the feedback to our next staff away day, consider where we need to change and alter our own plans in response and these final decisions will form our business plan for the extension, submitted back to the National Institute for Health and Care Research.”
Collective Encounters, established in 2004, who specialise in using theatre as a tool for social change with communities facing hardships across the Liverpool City Region, provided a performance into the lunch time break.
Interactive afternoon sessions on Logic Models (delivered by the IMPaCT theme) and the Use of Data (delivered by the CHI theme) provided an opportunity for the audience to engage and discuss cutting edge ideas and issues after lunch.
Professor Gabbay added: “We need to get better at focusing on outputs in terms of their contribution to service improvement, provoking changes in service delivery and the benefits to patients’ outcomes introduced as the direct result of the ARC’s work, which has led to improvements in the quality of care for patients. Then of course is the next part, capturing these stories and disseminating them to the NIHR and across the collaboration. That is the way we shape a legacy that continues to reduce health inequalities for the region on a long-term basis, post ARC NWC.”
Catering was provided by the local community bakery, HomeBaked Anfield.
