Healthcare Innovation Hub to harness potential of health workers
The first public services Healthcare Innovation Hub in Africa, the GSH Healthcare Innovation Hub is a partnership between the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship, based at the Graduate School of Business, UCT’s Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS), Groote Schuur Hospital (GSH), the GSH Facilities Board, and the Western Cape Provincial Department of Health.
Housed at GSH, the GSH Innovation Hub was officially opened on 17 March 2015, with the aim to catalyse innovation from within the healthcare system by harnessing the potential of frontline healthcare workers.
Already, the Hub is home to ten innovation projects, which have been awarded seed funding through the GSH Facilities Board. The Bertha Centre and UCT’s Faculty of Health Sciences have been supporting these teams as they test and implement their proposed innovations. Project team members include GSH employees and FHS staff.
The innovation projects include, amongst others, a Referrals project headed up by the Cardiology, Dermatology, Neurology, and Orthopaedic Divisions; a redesign of the ICU 24-Hour Patient Flow Chart; and a medication storage device called the Guide Pill Box.
“These patients have to make substantial changes in their lives at a time when they are already going through a transition period, and the process of co-designing the service with the patients, as well as their families, care-givers, and healthcare service providers, has provided a model that can be adapted and adopted by other services who treat adolescent patients," explains Dr Davidson.
“This is the kind of innovative project we believe will emerge through our activities,” says GSH Hub Project Manager, Katusha de Villiers.
The GSH Innovation Hub is a resource available to UCT FHS staff,” adds de Villiers, “It is a creative and inclusive space where all members of the Western Cape Department of Health and the external community can unite to develop new solutions for health.
