I noticed a colleague had posted these on the Academic Health Sciences Network (AHSN) Linkedin group discussion site (you will have to sign in/register). So thought it would be good to share them with a wider public audience.  Particularly as I would have thought an announcement following the tender process is due shortly.

 An overall map of the AHSN territories has been provided by East Midlands AHSN at http://www.emahsn.ac.uk/emahsn/national-map.aspx

The prospective AHSNs are:
North East and North Cumbria http://www.ahsn-nenc.org.uk/
North West Coast http://www.nwcahsn.nhs.uk/index.php
Greater Manchester http://www.gmahsn.org/
Yorkshire & Humber http://www.yhahsn.org.uk/
East Midlands http://www.emahsn.ac.uk/emahsn/index.aspx
West Midlands http://www.ahsn.nhslocal.nhs.uk/
The Eastern http://www.eahsn.org.uk/
West of England http://www.weahsn.org.uk/
Imperial College Health Partners http://www.imperialcollegehealthpartners.com/
UCL Partners http://www.uclpartners.com/lotus/about-us/ahsn/
South London http://www.kingshealthpartners.org/info/southlondonahsn
Oxford http://www.oxfordahsn.org/
Kent, Surrey and Sussex http://www.kssahsn.net/#
Wessex http://wessexahsn.org/
South West Peninsula http://www.swpahsn.co.uk/

Yesterday, NIHR also announced the competitive exercise for the new Academic Health Science Centres (AHSCs).  These will be nested within AHSNs but they won’t provide full national coverage (there are currently five Centres for instance).  This extract from the guidance document published yesterday is quite helpful in explaining the distinction between Networks and Centres:

“AHSCs are distinct entities from AHSNs. AHSNs will drive diffusion and uptake of proven innovations throughout the NHS, and will provide full geographical coverage in England. As stated in

Innovation Health and Wealth, Accelerating Adoption and Diffusion in the NHS, “the designation AHSC is distinguished by its world-class research capability, clinical excellence, strong collaborative governance, competitive approach to management of IP, strong track record of productive research collaborations with the life sciences industry and emerging clinical data informatics platforms”. The designation of AHSCs will be made only to those elite NHS provider/university partnerships which meet such challenging criteria. It is not the intention that together the designated AHSCs will provide full national geographical coverage.”

Am delighted to see the reference to AHSCs needing to have ‘strong public involvement’ in yesterday’s public announcement.