by Andrea D’Andrea
TheHill’s purpose is to empower digital innovation in health and care. This can only happen if everyone has equal opportunity to engage in digital innovation and to bring their talents to the table. One of our key values as an institution is inclusivity and diversity and as such we are very keen to make sure that we have representation of diverse groups in our projects and programmes.
On the 7th November, we hosted the online event “Women in Healthcare Innovation”, attended by students and young professionals working in healthcare or planning to work in healthcare innovation.
Participants joined us for a day of online workshops and panel discussions including entrepreneurial experts in the Oxford healthcare innovation ecosystem; including Nesrine Ramadan, Biomedical Researcher & Innovation Fellow at University of Oxford; Dr Jackie Hunter, Board Director of BenevolentAI; Dr Nessa Carey, Royal Society Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the University of Oxford; Dr Deborah Spencer, Deputy Head of Industrial Research Partnerships University Lead and UK Industrial Strategy at University of Oxford.
People enjoyed the discussions and the opportunity to connect. One participant stated that they “felt empowered by learning that even if innovation can be an uncertain path, there are methods and knowledge out there that can help guide you, with many people and organisations that are happy to offer support”.
Diversity and inclusion are broad terms. For TheHill they are about reducing inequalities and creating a feeling of belonging. They also mean offering support to individuals and creating environments and ecosystems that allow everyone to thrive and use their full potential. It has been well established that organisations that are more diverse are actually more creative, more innovative and even more profitable.
So what is next?
In our December social mixer we will be holding a panel discussion entitled:
“Digital Inclusion and Exclusion: how technology can help to narrow inequalities”
This will covering topics around types of inequalities, groups that are disadvantaged and how digital can be a force for good; mitigating issues.
Our previous social mixers have been a testament to the growing interest and enthusiasm for digital healthcare and the support TheHill provides, as well as the opportunity to meet and network with our community.
Terry Roberts, Chief People Officer at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, will join the panel and reflect upon the steps the Trust is making to overcome staff-related inequalities and promote more inclusion.
We will also welcome Saira Arif, Implementation Manager at ORCHA. Saira will talk about how ORCHA select and review apps for patients and staff and how they try and address inequalities and digital inclusion in that process.
Finally, we will have also have representatives from two start-ups, Dynamx Medical and Cardmedic – part of TheHill entrepreneurial community. Cardmedic has also recently participated in our “NHS Market Access Accelerator” programme.
Join the Hill’s social mixer online. We empower people to use digital technologies to improve the NHS for all of our stakeholders including patients and staff.