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Member News: Tech firms to engage NHS workforce, as new trust brings care closer to home

Topic : Market Access Type : Press Release

Member news, from Highland

Executives, digital, operational, and frontline staff from the newly integrated North Cheshire and Mersey NHS Foundation Trust, will welcome both big tech and innovative health tech firms on 27 November. 

The trust, which integrated in April, is the latest in the NHS to host Elevate – a programme of health tech showcases that bring curated and relevant technology together with healthcare staff for an entire day. 

Technology providers able to respond to the trust’s priorities can request their place in the showcase at Warrington Hospital, where they will show leaders and the wider workforce the art of the possible.

Held at a time the trust is reshaping services, the showcase will allow innovators to inform and inspire ways the organisation can bring care closer to home for patients and enable prevention of ill health. Ideas are also expected to help inform new digital and clinical strategies. 

Sue Caisley, interim CIO, North Cheshire and Mersey NHS Foundation Trust, said: "This health tech showcase is particularly important as we consider how we deliver the three shifts – from hospital to community, from treatment to prevention, and from analogue to digital. Digital will be a key enabler of all three, but we need to start with the challenges facing our services and our patients. 

"Insight we gather will help inform our future digital and clinical strategies, and our transformation roadmap. I look forward to welcoming a curated mix of technology providers into the trust aligned to our priorities: from AI and automation to remote monitoring and connected devices, virtual care, patient access, workforce productivity and technologies that enable more care to be delivered closer to home."

AI, remote monitoring, hospital at home, joined-up records, neighbourhood working, and technologies that enable patient access and a smarter safer estate, are of key interest. A detailed list of technologies the trust would like to explore is available online.

The showcase is also open to other technologies and ideas the trust isn’t aware of, especially if they can help address strategic priorities and frontline challenges across the trust’s acute and community services.

Mark Venables, CEO of Highland, which launched Elevate last year, said: “North Cheshire and Mersey’s showcase comes at a key time for the trust, and with it a great opportunity for technology companies to listen, learn, and create answers to challenges. The trust is the latest to want to engage people from across its workforce in shaping future direction, equipped with a greater awareness of what is out there and how it can help. 

“We’ve seen wonderful engagement within trusts that have already embraced Elevate, and have received highly positive feedback from technology vendors who can connect with everyone they need to in a single day. With more trusts signing up this Autumn and into 2027, the opportunity to bring technology to the NHS has never been greater.”

University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust, Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, and the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, have all drawn on Elevate showcases to inform either the creation or delivery of their digital strategies.

At the Royal Derby Hospital some 500 NHS staff from every level of the trust engaged with curated technology companies onsite, with trust leaders and digital teams using the day to better understand what their staff need. 

Technology companies taking part in the NHS health tech showcases have reported reaching stakeholders not otherwise possible. Companies have described achieving engagement that would have taken months to arrange, condensed to a single day. 

Health tech providers wishing to discover more about North Cheshire and Mersey NHS Foundation Trust’s interests and needs can visit the trust’s Elevate health tech showcase page. 

ENDS

Notes to editors

About North Cheshire and Mersey NHS Foundation Trust

North Cheshire and Mersey NHS Foundation Trust (NCM) serves more than one million residents across the Halton and Warrington boroughs and the wider North West region.

Bringing together community and out-of-hospital services with inpatient and elective care, we provide services at two hospital sites and more than 70 community hubs and facilities.

Warrington Hospital provides emergency care, general medicine, surgery, cardiac care, stroke care, cancer care, maternity, paediatrics, and support services like physiotherapy, pathology, and pharmacy.

Halton Hospital in Runcorn specialises in elective and diagnostic care. It includes the Captain Sir Tom Moore Building and Nightingale Building, offering services including general surgery, urology, cancer care, chemotherapy, and outpatient care. The site is also home to the Delamere Macmillan Unit, Halton Clinical Research Unit, and Runcorn Urgent Treatment Centre.

The hospital sites are around 10 miles apart and are close to the North West motorway network, offering outpatient clinics and diagnostic services as well as inpatient care.

Community-based services, including specialist dental services, are provided from patients' homes, clinics and health centres. Mobile facilities and virtual appointment options aim to improve access to care and reduce health inequalities.

About Highland

Highland is a strategic growth partner for health tech. NHS organisations work with Highland to discover the art of the possible, engage their workforce, and generate insight that informs strategy and digital transformation. Health tech companies engage Highland to find opportunities, convince audiences, grow their business, and bring technology directly to the NHS.

Full details of how Highland supports growth in the health tech sector can be found at highland.health

About Elevate

Highland has launched Elevate, a new initiative that brings technology suppliers directly into NHS organisations for a day of whole-organisation engagement. Showcasing innovation curated for trust needs, major technology companies and niche innovators meet hundreds of staff organisation-wide, informing trust strategy and workstreams. The model is inspiring NHS providers and suppliers alike who value the depth of access, insight, and impact. Elevate is now being rolled out with NHS providers, hospital groups, and integrated care systems embracing a new way to engage NHS staff in the art of the possible.

https://highland.health/elevate/

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