Spark Ignite competition supports innovation on frontline

SPARK IGNITE

Competition supports frontline innovation

Following the phenomenal success of last year’s competition, the Spark Innovation Programme is delighted to announce the launch of the HSE Spark Ignite 2022 innovation competition, which opened in February 2022. The Spark Ignite initiative is funded by the HSE’s Spark Innovation Programme, a collaboration between the O ce of the Nursing and Midwifery Services Director (ONMSD), National Doctor Training and Planning (NDTP), the National Health and Social Care Professionals O ce (HSCP) and the National Quality and Patient Safety Directorate (NQPSD) to support frontline innovation and quality improvement across the HSE. Do you have a solution that will have a real impact on the patient and/or the healthcare system?

HSE SPARK IGNITE WOULD LIKE TO HEAR FROM YOU. APPLICATIONS WILL BE ASSESSED ON THE FOLLOWING FOUR AREAS:

• What is the problem you wish to address? • What are the current solutions? • Who does the problem a ect – patients, carers, clinical teams, administration, managers? • What is your solution?

HSE Spark Ignite 2022 is the only sta -facing, bottom up, innovation competition available to the 115,000+ HSE employees. Its mission is to enable HSE sta to validate unmet needs in healthcare, determine if a market exists for their proposed solution, product, service, or process improvement to meet that need, and to support the further development of those ideas. HSE Spark Ignite is open to all disciplines and departments nationally within the HSE. Its mission is to enable HSE sta to bring their ideas for improvements towards reality.

A national remit allows more opportunities for people to test their ideas and vie for funding. Applications are simple and straightforward submitted via our online portal. Successful applicants will benefit from a bespoke healthcare focused innovation workshop delivered by experts to hone their idea and proceed to pitch for €3000. For further information on the competition and how to apply, go to www.hse.ie/spark

LAST YEAR’S WINNING PROJECTS

The best individual overall winner was Aoife Collins, a senior physiotherapist and co-ordinator of Active Back Care Program in the Physiotherapy Department, Cork South Lee PCC, HSE. Aoife won for her ‘Rapid Access Online Active Back Care (ABC) Programme’. Aoife plans to adapt and deliver her existing award-winning, evidence-based, group-rehabilitation program online via a customisable platform, provided by Salaso Health Solutions.

The team prize went to Dr Kevin Deasy, respiratory special registrar, and Dr Marcus Kennedy, consultant respiratory physician and interventional pulmonologist, with their ‘Remote Learning in Bronchoscopy using a Low-Fidelity Airway Simulator' at Cork University Hospital. They plan to develop a low cost flat-pack bronchoscopy and pleural ultrasound kit for home assembly and remote learning. Their ultimate goal is to develop a formal, well researched simulation program encompassing real world and distance learning through remote video platforms using this flat pack simulator.

Aoife Collins, the best individual overall winner for 2021, a senior physiotherapist and co-ordinator of Active Back Care Program.

"HSE Spark Ignite 2022 is the only staff-facing, bottom up, innovation competition available to the 115,000+ HSE employees. Its mission is to enable HSE staff to validate unmet needs in healthcare, determine if a market exists for their proposed solution, product, service, or process improvement to meet that need, and to support the further development of those ideas."