Objetivs of the visit:

• Contact with research groups and organizations financed with public funds whose purpose is to apply quantitative approaches to improving processes in health services, to learn from their good practices.
• Publicize the research and innovation activity of our group.

Visited Centers

1. Academic Health Science Networks (AHSN).

It is an organization financed with public funds whose mission is to connect companies, research centers and the national health system.

Below is his own definition that can be found on his website (Wessex AHSN http://wessexahsn.org.uk/).

What is Wessex AHSN?

We improve people’s health, achieve excellence in healthcare and boost innovation and growth in our region’s life sciences and healthcare sector. We connect academics, NHS, industry and others to bring fresh energy to old problems, inspired thinking to new ones and to spread innovation and best practice.

Figure 1. Página Web de Wessex.

There is an organization in each geographic region that are coordinated in a network: AHSN's http://www.ahsnnetwork.com/

Figure 2. AHSN website.

2.The National Institute for Health Research Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (NIHR CLAHRC)

Organization financed with public funds whose main mission is the implementation of the latest advances in health services research. The Wessex group was located at the Southampton Hospital.

Figure 3. CLAHRC Wessex website.

• SHTAC (Southampton Health Technology Assessment Centre)

Center dedicated to the economic evaluation of new medicines and technologies. It works for the NHS, with renewable contracts every 5 years.

Figure 4. SHTAC website.

• UHS Transformation and Improvement Team

Department for the promotion and monitoring of improvement projects within the Southampton Hospital (http://www.uhs.nhs.uk/Home.aspx). They develop numerous small-scale projects (they are currently monitoring about 500 projects of this type) but also some more far-reaching projects. They have an annual budget of 1 million pounds and have a staff of 15 people. Annually they write reports on the economic impact and for the welfare of the patients of the projects carried out.

• Aneurin Bevan Continuous improvement (ABCi) University Health Board

Research group that collaborates with the health service of Wales developing improvement projects (http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sitesplus/866/page/69347). The leader of the group is the researcher Dr. Paul Harper, internationally known. This group establishes contacts with the Health Service by offering specific training courses, aimed at "managers" of intermediate level. They must propose and develop improvement projects during the course that use mathematical and computational tools learned during the course.