Scotland's innovators urged to apply for NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme

The NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme (CEP) is welcoming fresh applications from Scotland’s healthcare innovators.

Applicants for cohort 8 can now sign up to be part of the programme that aims to help accelerate and deliver innovations into the NHS for improved patient care.

The NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme – delivered by Anglia Ruskin University and part of the Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC) – is considered to be the biggest entrepreneurial workforce development programme of its kind and is open to all NHS Scotland staff.

The programme is underpinned by support from a coordination group consisting of InnoScot Health and other forward-thinking, collaborative partners across Scotland – the Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre (DHI), Scottish Enterprise, NHS Education Scotland, Scottish Health and Industry Partnership Group (SHIP), and Scottish Government.

Head of project management at InnoScot Health, Gillian Henderson said: “We want to encourage NHS Scotland staff with great ideas that are at any stage of development to get involved in the programme and maximise their learning, in turn accelerating the introduction of ground-breaking treatments and diagnostics. This is a great time to apply.”

InnoScot Health hosted a recent webinar entitled Empowering healthcare professionals to transform services through innovation which discussed the experiences of CEP entrepreneurs including the programme’s co-clinical Lead, Dr Tamsin Holland Brown, founder of Hear Glue Ear, and Dr Debbie Wake, CEO and chief medical officer at My Way Digital Health.

The year-long programme is free to join and provides learning, opportunities, and experiences, allowing NHS Scotland entrepreneurs to develop commercial skills and knowledge that can accelerate their innovations and help them in their day jobs.

CEP offers mentoring, bespoke commercial education, customer matching, resources, development tools and access to a community of likeminded individuals and industry experts.

Dedicated learning on how to build a start-up or develop an intrapreneurial idea is delivered as a series of educational events called ‘pit stops’, which can be attended either in person or virtually.

The latest pit stop event took place in Glasgow on Wednesday 11 October when an evening gathering provided a platform to take stock of progress and encourage networking while offering an opportunity to hear from founders, industry experts, and CEP partners DHI. It was followed by a second, full day of learning.

Henderson continued: “It has been inspiring to be part of this inclusive, progressive programme and it will be rewarding indeed to see a new Scottish cohort go from strength to strength for innovation benefits that can be adopted back into our NHS. This is an exciting time for all involved.

“We enjoyed meeting budding applicants at the programme taster in Glasgow and hearing what they hope to achieve. Likewise, our aim will be to make a valuable contribution to their success by lending our own innovation expertise and support alongside other key organisations.

“Fundamentally, CEP is an exceptional opportunity to empower the diverse NHS Scotland workforce during this important period of recovery, renewal, and transformation by creating a space where NHS staff can develop their innovation or idea without having to leave the health service.”

Dr Debbie Wake said: "The strength of the programme is really in its network of likeminded people all working towards a common purpose to improve healthcare.”

The coordination group will support the Scottish candidates on their innovation journey and help them to identify support while providing networking and collaboration opportunities across the wider Scottish innovation and entrepreneurial landscape.

Applications for cohort 8 are encouraged before 29 October.