Imperial College London takes the best of British healthcare to China

Imperial's IGHI exhibits at the UK Trade & Investment and Healthcare UK's 'Healthcare is GREAT' showcase in Beijing.

Representatives from Imperial College London’s Institute of Global Health Innovation (IGHI) exhibited at the China Health Forum in Beijing this weekend to talk about its research centres and educational programmes. As part of IGHI promoting Imperial’s work internationally, colleagues from the Department of Surgery staged a fully simulated ‘live’ surgery in action. 

The Forum, hosted by UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) and Healthcare UK, brought together relevant expertise, products and services to aid the expansion and enhancement of Chinese healthcare.  Its aim was to provide the ideal setting for UK businesses to showcase under the ‘Healthcare is GREAT’ campaign, which was launched in 2012 to exhibit the very best of what Britain has to offer in healthcare.  

Guests were able to learn more about training, consultancy, elderly care, digital health, hospital build and management, medical equipment and the National Health Service (NHS) and gained a deeper understanding of how the system works as a whole. 

This year, the NHS celebrates its 65^th anniversary. The GREAT showcase allowed delegates to learn about the NHS as the most efficient public healthcare system in the world, clarified its common challenges that are similar with those of China, especially ageing society and non-communicable diseases, and revealed how its experience can be translated and replicated to serve China. Delegates had the opportunity to talk to private organisations that help the NHS deliver quality healthcare, including Jones Lang LaSalle, KPMG, BT Health, BUPA, Heythorp and Synergy. Furthermore, complimentary health checks were also be available for delegates to experience on the stand, with locally-based GPs applying procedures similar to those employed in the UK.

IGHI

The Institute’s exhibition promoted the research activity under the remit of its centres of excellence highlighting its work around frugal technology and innovative health design. The Centres educational programmes’ including the MSc in Health Policy and MRes in Robotic Surgery and the IGHI’s PhD programme were showcased to a variety of delegates including Chen Zhu, former Minister of Health of China and currently Vice-President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Pop-up Theatre

The simulated emergency surgery took place within a portable training operating theatre. Using the medium of simulation, Roger Kneebone, professor of surgical education at Imperial College London has developed a way to deliberately open up the closed world of surgery to the members of the public and give them a unique insight into what happens in and out of the operating theatre.

Central to the show is the ‘igloo’ which is an inflatable semi-circular inflatable room that becomes the ‘pop-up’ operating theatre where the team conduct their simulated surgeries. It is a portable, inexpensive and high-fidelity environment that can recreate the high stress atmosphere of the operating theatre.

Smarter approaches to healthcare

UK Trade & Investment and Healthcare UK brought sixteen leading British healthcare organisations to the China Health Forum. The UK presence was led by Brian Gallagher, UK Trade & Investment Director for China, and Howard Lyons, Managing Director for Healthcare UK.

Howard Lyons says:

“Both the UK and China are seeking to develop smarter approaches to deliver more healthcare with finite resources, to deliver excellent care for an ageing population and deal with the rise in non-communicable diseases.

“Healthcare UK has been established to share UK expertise with countries like China but also to allow British organisations to learn from best practice around the world".