Engagement between the NHS and industry on digital health
My experiences of growing a digital health company in the UK – Tony Bowden, Chief Executive Officer, Helicon Health
At a time when NHS resources are apparently stretched to breaking point, you could be forgiven for thinking that a digital platform for stroke prevention would be a no brainer for most health economies. Drawing on recent experience, Tony will present insights on what works and what doesn’t or hasn’t and will bring colour and texture to the result.

Why is it so hard for industry to work with the NHS? – Sara Shaw, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Science, University of Oxford
There is a strong policy push in the UK to harness the potential of digital technologies, with the NHS and industry regarded as key to delivering this. However, despite repeated attempts to facilitate cross-sector working in the name of ‘innovation’, ‘accelerated access’ or ‘new models of care’, the NHS and industry often struggle to fully engage. Drawing on recent national-level interviews with executives from industry, policy and practice, this presentation will explore the reasons why industry finds it so hard to work with the NHS.

BIOGRAPHIES
Tony Bowden, Chief Executive Officer, Helicon Health Ltd. (www.heliconhealth.co.uk)

Tony was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Helicon Health in May 2015, having advised the Board on Strategy and Business Development for the preceding year. Tony has over 30 years leadership experience in the Healthcare and Education technology sectors, during which time he founded and led two early stage businesses in the UK and Europe and acted as Business Development Director for both iSOFT & Computer Science Corporation Healthcare division.

Tony has a wealth of experience in taking healthcare and education technology companies to highly successful exits with multi-national companies such as IBM, CSC and Discovery Communications. Tony is a Partner and Deputy Chair at The IT Health Partnership, advising the NHS and suppliers to the NHS and private healthcare sectors in the drive towards joining up digital health and care. His early career was spent at Thorn Software (which became IBM Global Services) where he developed and ran the London based vertical market division, for which he had full P&L responsibility across Healthcare, Public Sector and Financial Services.

Tony is an angel investor in a number of high growth start-ups. He is passionate about supporting SMEs and promoting their role in driving economic growth and prosperity.

Sara Shaw – Senior Researcher, co-Lead of the Interdisciplinary Research in Health Sciences (IRIHS) Research Group, Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, and Fellow at Green Templeton College

Dr Sara Shaw is a Senior Researcher at the University of Oxford. She has a background in medical sociology and policy studies and her research focuses on the organisation and development of healthcare policy and practice. Her particular interests lie in the development of health and social policies, how these are understood and interpreted by patients, practitioners, professionals and policymakers, and how policies shape organisational processes, routines and decision-making. She has considerable experience of developing and applying qualitative methods and has undertaken work on topics ranging from NHS commissioning and integrated care to health research policy and research governance.

Sara is committed to working across boundaries. In addition to her position at University of Oxford, she is Honorary Reader at Queen Mary University of London and Visiting Senior Fellow at the Nuffield Trust, an independent UK charity focused on researching health policy and the organisation and delivery of health care. She has undertaken work for the Department of Health, Royal College of General Practitioners, Faculty of Public Health, National Institute for Health Research and NHS R&D Forum. She is on the Editorial Board of Sociology of Health & Illness, is Associate Editor for BMC Health Services Research; and has published widely on topics including shaping national health research policy, critical approaches to understanding and analysing policy and the organisation of health and social care.
Date: 8 November 2017, 10:30 (Wednesday, 5th week, Michaelmas 2017)
Venue: St Luke's Chapel, Woodstock Road OX2 6GG
Speakers: Tony Bowden (CEO, Helicon Health), Sara Shaw (NDPCHS University of Oxford)
Organising department: Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences
Organiser: Dr Chrysanthi Papoutsi (NDPCHS, University of Oxford)
Part of: Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences Seminars
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Members of the University only
Editors: Dan Richards-Doran, Jessy Morton