Newcastle Hospitals has launched a Commercial Strategy.
Associate director for commercial Wayne Elliot explains the role commercial has to play in generating income for Newcastle Hospitals, to be reinvested into NHS services for patients.
Commercial enterprise – what does it mean for Newcastle Hospitals?
“The word ‘commercial’ certainly has many connotations for different people both within and across organisations and sectors.
When we’re talking about commercial activity in the NHS, the term refers to business operations which generate income outside of traditional funding routes, enabling reinvestment into services to benefit patients and staff.
Investing in core NHS services allows us to continue to provide specialist clinical care to the people of Newcastle, the north east and beyond in a resilient and sustainable way.
Through increasing our commercial activity with partners across a range of sectors, we can continue to grow the discovery and development of new products and services, to enable staff to keep pace with medical break throughs and give the best care and treatment for our patients.
Our commercial work enables us to build more freedom to invest in technology, facilities and providing an enhanced working environment for colleagues.
We need to be ambitious and enterprising; to think creatively about strengthening our approach and identifying more opportunities for income growth.
There is sometimes some feeling that commercial work is in conflict with the ethos of the NHS, and amidst competing priorities may not be seen as such an important priority.
But we are facing a number of significant challenges including Covid recovery, bringing down waiting lists and seeing more patients as quickly as possible, whilst continuing to provide high quality services in the most efficient way.
Thinking commercially is fundamental to achieving these challenges.
Commercial activity isn’t new to the trust or the wider NHS – our organisation has been generating commercial income for the past 20 years through specialist expertise in areas including the Newcastle specials pharmacy production unit, surgical training centres and by expanding healthcare services into the private and international markets.
This summer our commercial team has reached our four-year anniversary and we are proud to be launching our first commercial strategy – the foundations and frame work to all commercial activity at Newcastle Hospitals and with our partners.
Our strategy portfolio features five key themes; health and life sciences, education and training, pharmaceutical production, international and private healthcare, and data partnerships.
We have already had some significant achievements in these areas including 100th patient to receive life changing CAR T-cell therapy, five years on from becoming one of the first centres to deliver these innovative treatments, thanks to commercial research and ongoing clinical trials.
Scientists at the North East Innovation Lab and Novopath are working closely to deliver an integrated diagnostic research and development offer for the life sciences sector from their base in The Biosphere, Newcastle Helix.
We are upgrading our pharmacy production equipment, enabling the increase in production of vital medicines, and working with our NHS and commercial partners to develop and manufacture pioneering treatment solutions which can be administered at home.
Our clinical skills academy launched in 2023 offering specialist education and training to staff across the NHS.
Whilst we have a rich history of research and innovation, working with partners from across healthcare, academia and industry, we have teams and individuals who are regularly looking at how to improve the services and care we provide to patients.
Our commercial strategy is dependent on working together with our partners and colleagues, and is underpinned by an entrepreneurial and commercial approach, building on the Trust’s strong foundations of excellent care, effective joint working and strategic partnerships across health, academia and industry.
We know we have valuable assets and innovative ideas throughout the trust and want to create a wider understanding of commercial enterprise, we can offer support and guidance to help develop products or ideas.
Colleagues need to feel empowered to find solutions to everyday problems and challenges and to understand the benefits of partnering with the right external companies to take their ideas forward for the greater good to improve patient care and support our workforce.
We have reshaped our commercial enterprise team, to refocus our skills and expertise and provide expert support and guidance to commercialise ideas and services; grow and strengthen partnerships with specific support in areas including intellectual property, business planning, contracting, real world evaluation and product development/launch.
To discover more, visit our commercial web pages or contact [email protected] to talk to the team.
