Innovate Healthier Together Fellowship

We’re thrilled to announce that Innovate Healthier Together has welcomed our 100th Fellow, marking a milestone that reflects the strength and diversity of our growing community. To celebrate, we interviewed our 100th Fellow, Wendie Smith, to learn more about her journey, her thoughts on the future of health and care, and her insights into the challenges and opportunities facing innovation today.

Please tell us a little bit about yourself, your career, and how you came to be where you are now.

“I qualified when I was 30— So I was a late bloomer! My early career was in secondary care, and eventually, I moved into primary care around 2006. Transitioning between these two areas was challenging. Working in a patient’s home, for instance, is very different in terms of power dynamics, compared to a clinical setting.

“In 2012, I took a leap and opened my own business, which I ran until 2020. As much as I enjoyed the autonomy of it, running a business isn’t easy— I worked as a locum writing legal reports and training in various other roles, gaining a wide range of experience. I did this because I didn’t feel that the NHS was giving me what I needed, and it wasn’t the right fit for my goals at the time, I wanted to drive more change in the system.

“The COVID-19 pandemic led me to step back into clinical practice, which was a move that brought both challenges and renewed purpose. Having space to make changes takes time and blind faith, but I’m passionate about ensuring people live well in those final 10-15 years.”

What do you see as the key challenges within health and care today within our region?

“The NHS was never built to manage today’s complex health issues. Technology has come a long way, but it’s got to be used thoughtfully to be effective.

“We have to be part of the conversation to truly understand the challenges and needs—it’s about health innovation, implementation, and collaboration among clinics, researchers, and innovators.

“We need data and evidence to guide our approaches, ensuring our ideas and solutions are truly beneficial. At the minute, I think this crucial link between research and practical application is lacking.”

What do you think makes this community different from other health and care innovation initiatives?

“Having attended a recent Discussion Group, I learnt so much in just an hour-long conversation. The concept of a ‘pre-mortem’ was something new for me, and it really shifted my thinking. It’s rare to be in a room with people who all bring such different perspectives—it helps you think creatively and gives you a sense of purpose.”

“You don’t usually get all of these people in the same room, but it’s so important. When we come together, solutions just seem to flow more naturally.”

What are you hoping to gain from the Fellowship going forward?

“My hope is to see more spaces where professionals can connect and think outside the box about the issues facing healthcare. The fellowship is really invigorating my hope that, together, we can tackle some of the toughest challenges. Having a ‘hook’ to hang our ideas on—a shared space to come together and innovate—is something I’ve missed. It’s that sense of purpose that really drives me.”

“My journey has been one of diverse experiences and resilience, and I’m feeling optimistic about the future. I’ve been part of projects that went well, and I know there’s potential to keep moving forward. We need these moments of connection and creativity to keep our passion alive.”

As we celebrate our 100th fellow, we extend our thanks to Wendie for her generous support and dedication to our mission. We look forward to fostering more meaningful conversations, innovative ideas, and impactful initiatives that will continue to shape the future of healthcare.

Furthermore, a sincere thank you also goes out to all our fellows. Your contributions to our thriving community are invaluable, and your commitment to dedicating time to inspire change in our profession helps drive progress and make a meaningful impact.

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Feeling Inspired by Wendie’s story and want to join us to further our progress? You can fill out our Fellowship Member registration form. Or, if you’d like to find out more about future activities, please email healthinnowest.ihtfellowship@nhs.net.

To keep up to date with the Innovate Healthier Together Programme, please sign up to our monthly newsletter, which discusses all things innovation in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.

The Innovate Healthier Together Fellowship continues to grow, and on 22 October, our Fellows participated in a Discussion Group that delved into the complex topic of handling failure in innovation. The session highlighted that while innovation requires a willingness to take risks, understanding and embracing failure is equally essential.

One of the key takeaways was the evolving perspective on failure itself. Historically viewed as something to avoid, failure is now being recognised as a crucial component of the learning and adaptation process. Participants considered an interesting paradox: if success is not achieved or measurable through traditional Return On Investment (ROI), is it truly failure? Particularly in innovation, where long-term outcomes often provide the most profound results, short-term metrics might fail to capture the value of insights gained through initial setbacks.

This reframing of failure extended to discussions about language and responsibility. The group emphasised the importance of adopting a vocabulary that celebrates lessons learned rather than focusing solely on outcomes. As one fellow noted, phrases like “successful failure” convey that attempts yielding insight, even if they miss the initial goal, are a form of progress in themselves. This resonated with examples such as NASA’s Apollo 13 mission—though it did not achieve the intended landing, it was a “successful failure” in terms of advancing emergency protocols that ultimately saved the crew.

Additionally, there was a reflection on resilience—not as an individual responsibility alone but as a characteristic of the systems around us. This approach challenges the notion that personal resilience is paramount, suggesting instead that system resilience allows for more constructive responses to setbacks. Innovation, after all, is a journey of trying and adapting, not necessarily one of reaching a conclusive “end.” One fellow observed that even in fields requiring precision, like cardiology, a “perfect” result (a flat line on an ECG) is, paradoxically, the least desirable outcome.

This discussion offered a thought-provoking perspective on how we approach innovation in healthcare, encouraging fellows to adopt a more open and growth-oriented mindset. As we continue to challenge established ideas and redefine what it means to “succeed,” these conversations are vital in shaping a more adaptable, resilient health system. This session served as a powerful reminder that in the pursuit of meaningful change, failures are not only unavoidable—they’re valuable.

This was one of the many Discussion Groups and activities over the coming months, which are exclusive for Innovate Healthier Together .

If you’re not yet an Innovate Healthier Together Fellow but would like to access future events, you can fill out our Fellowship Member registration form. Or, if you’d like to find out more information about future activities, please email healthinnowest.ihtfellowship@nhs.net.