Health Innovation Wessex appoints Philippa Darnton as Director of Insight

Philippa Darnton has been appointed to the role of Director of Insight for Health Innovation Wessex, following a period leading the Insight function in an interim capacity.

This critical role covers both the Director of Insight position for Health Innovation Wessex and the Implementation Director role with the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) Wessex, delivering the implementation strategy and supporting ARC research teams to align research with innovation adoption. Philippa will further develop our Insight strategy and commercial approach, along with providing leadership and strengthening our partnerships.

Philippa has over 30 years’ experience of working in the health service and academia as an Allied Health Professional (Speech and Language Therapist), researcher, operational manager, senior commissioner and programme manager (evaluation, spread and adoption). Her large scale improvement work has included programmes in stroke care, cardiac services and neuro-rehabilitation. She has worked within the Insight directorate at Health Innovation Wessex for eight years since its inception. This programme includes independent evaluations of innovations in health care, real world validation studies and rapid insight generation to inform decisions about innovation adoption.

Philippa commented: “I am delighted to lead our growing Insight service at Health Innovation Wessex providing members, industry partners and others with insights about what and how we innovate to improve patient care. And, as Implementation Lead for ARC Wessex, to use learning about implementation to optimise the impact of ARC research in our health and care systems. It is a privilege to work with experts across HIW and ARC to put insights from evaluation and research into practice and I look forward to making new relationships and collaborations across our networks to do even more.“

Nicola Bent, Chief Executive Officer for Health Innovation Wessex, commented: "Philippa's skills and experience offer enormous value to the organisation, and I am delighted that following a robust recruitment process she has been successful in securing this role on a substantive basis.” 

Philippa’s position as Director of Insight and ARC Wessex Implementation Director begins this month. Connect with Philippa on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/philippa-darnton-9998072a4/