The innovation experience: good to know Four questions every clinical entrepreneur should ask themselves E Dr Tamsin Holland Brown, Community Paediatrician at Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust and Founder of Hear Glue Ear, reflects on her experiences as a clinical entrepreneur very day, medical professionals identify pressure points in the delivery of care that need to be solved. Working as a community paediatrician with a special interest in deafness, I saw children struggling with the effects of temporary hearing loss. When one of my daughters was diagnosed with glue ear (the most common cause of temporary hearing loss), I saw an opportunity to improve care and better implement NICE guidance. I developed the Hear Glue Ear app to enable children with glue ear to develop speech, language, auditory processing and listening skills between appointments through specially designed resources, songs, games and audio books. I have been asked how others can develop their ideas further and become a clinical entrepreneur: 1. How can I free up time to develop my idea? What is glue ear? The biggest challenge is to find free time on top of a Glue ear is caused by a buildup of fluid and mucous behind the ear drum which prevents sounds being transferred to the inner part of the hearing system. It affects one in 10 children at school entry age medical job and family time. For me, this meant mostly working on the project once the kids were in bed and seeing research patients at the weekend. I read once that if you are a woman in innovation you either need a 235 innovations Fact reviewed by our commercial team, 52 of which were reviewed in-depth by the 1 innovation review panel supportive partner or no partner. Fortunately, I have the former. I regularly worked late to learn about start-ups, apply for f unding streams and plan research. Talk to your employer as early as possible about flexible working and formal arrangements through approved programmes our medical director was able to steer me to the NHS clinical entrepreneur training programme having heard about it through Eastern AHSN. 2. Who can help me? Fact 2 186 innovators given tailored advice and provision of bespoke business support You are inevitably going to need support to grow your business and develop your innovation. The Cambridge network is hugely impressive; it feels as if there is one of the top 10 people in the world at everything here. The generosity of time by medical, tech and business giants was extraordinary. The challenge is that it can be overwhelming finding the right support. Its been so helpful having Eastern AHSN to make introductions, talk through my options or any uncertainties and give impartial advice on whats best for me. 3. Youre sure your product can make a dijerence\buthowcanyouproveitt Brokered access to NHS Fact stakeholders 3 to promote and accelerate innovation uptake for 136 innovators Research informs change but it is costly. Focus first on a smaller initial pilot to develop and test your innovation. Hopefully, this will yield positive results to help secure further funding or a larger pilot. Last year, Eastern AHSN established 27 pilot sites to evaluate and build evidence for innovation. Never stop asking the users of your innovation for feedback. Their insight will inform research, motivate you and provide the human stories around why your innovation is important. 4Y Y ouhaveaninnovation\butdo you have the business skills you willneedt There were many business skills I needed to learn about: intellectual property, CE marking, market analysis, pricing strategies and building the right team. My advice is to take advantage of the programmes and accelerators available to you. This also connects you with others going through the same process who you can learn from. Eastern AHSN can signpost you to programmes and provide practical advice to help you along the way they gave 21 innovators financial support for health economic evaluations, grant funding, intellectual property and regulatory consultancy in 2019/20. Share this article Fact The Hear Glue Ear app was named 4 Childrens App of the Year at the 2019 UK App Awards Tamsin received a grant through the Medtech Accelerator, a joint venture in which Fact 5 Eastern AHSN is a partner Impact Stories Read our impact stories to find out how weve helped innovators like Tamsin turn great ideas into positive health impact at EasternAHSN.org Visit hearglueear.wordpress.com