AECC UC Celebrates Results from First KEF Submission

Research England has today published the results of the third Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF).

This is the first time that AECC University College has made a submission to the KEF. The University was included in the STEM Specialists Cluster, along with ten other institutions.

AECC University College’s (AECC UC) performance highlights strengths in the following areas: local growth and regeneration, Continuing Professional Development (CPD) provision, and working with the public and third sector.

For example, much of AECC UC’s Clinical Services delivery aims to reduce waiting times for patients and waiting lists for the University’s NHS partners.

In 2021 a collaboration between University Hospitals Dorset, Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and AECC UC saw the University deliver in excess of 1,000 ultrasound scans in just four weeks.

This enabled AECC UC’s local NHS Trust partners to reduce their waiting lists whilst they recovered from Covid-19 and also created additional training capacity for sonographers.

AECC UC works locally with partners in Dorset, regionally with NHS England Southwest, and nationally through our NHS partners to develop a strong pipeline of local workforce into health careers.

A key example of this is the University’s work with the Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). The University was allocated £2.673m match funding from the Getting Building Fund for the construction of the Integrated Rehabilitation Centre.

The Integrated Rehabilitation Centre will play a key role in enabling an increased number of allied health and other health care professionals to graduate from the University and enter employment in the local health and social care sectors.

The Integrated Rehabilitation Centre also lays the foundation for future research in novel treatments and service improvements that will have a positive long-term impact on patient care and wellbeing.

In 2023, AECC UC established its Centre for Workforce & System Innovation (CWSI) to address healthcare workforce challenges. The Centre promotes knowledge exchange and offers comprehensive professional development programs for healthcare professionals, educators, leaders and policymakers.

To support the development of the University’s research, education and clinical services, AECC UC also created its SPACE Group (Sharing Patient and Community Experience), a group of patients and carers from the local community who are interested in improving healthcare. The aim is to put the patient’s lived experience of health care right at the centre of discussions around service improvements.

Head of Academic Enterprise and Engagement at AECC UC, Dr. Claire Nadaf, said: “At AECC University College, we want to be responsive to local workforce requirements in health care. As soon as there are changes that need to be made to the skillsets of the workforce, we want to be on hand to support these through education.

“We want to help make sure that practitioners have the right knowledge, skills and attributes to be able to deliver care to patients. We’re looking at individual problems and departments and how we can help solve and improve them.

“We are driving a different approach forward which is flexible and responsive to need.”

Head of Research at AECC UC, Dr. Julie Northam, reflects on these results: “Our performance in the KEF highlights the importance of partnership working to AECC University College and it’s fantastic to see the impact that the University is having.

“Our partnerships help us to identify and understand the needs of the local area in order to develop our own strategies and action plans to align with these. It’s really important to us that we are an anchor institution serving Dorset and our local communities.

“As a specialist health sciences University, we want our Knowledge Exchange work to be having a positive impact on the lives of patients locally, as well as impact at a national level.”