About Us

Training for Innovation (TFI), formerly THOTH. was formed in January 2006 with funding from the NHS and the Department of Trade and Industry. The aim is to help create and disseminate innovative training tools that will accelerate the adoption of new healthcare technologies in the NHS and beyond.

We work in partnership with NHS, academic, educational and information technology bodies and medical device companies to encourage knowledge exchange and promote best practice in medical technology training.

TFI is dedicated to improving the quality, effectiveness and global competitiveness of the UK healthcare sector by developing and increasing the uptake of new healthcare technologies.

We provide a structured and standardised platform for developing training tools in the use of advanced medical technologies and serve as the core innovation centre in healthcare technology training.

Operations include identifying training gaps created by changing technology demands as well as focusing on the training needs arising from NHS priority areas.

Our established stakeholder network helps stimulate and facilitate knowledge flow from industry into medical training.

The importance of medical technology development
Advances in medical technology play a pivotal role in the improvement and transformation of the NHS and the health economy of an ageing UK society.

For patients, better diagnostics, less invasive procedures and more effective treatments mean faster recovery and improved quality of life, reduced waiting times and greater access to the NHS.

While introducing new more efficient medical technologies can involve increased short term spending, lasting economic gains can be achieved by reduced treatment costs and a more rapid return to normal, productive life for patients.

Improved patient outcomes also help the NHS achieve National Service Framework targets and other Department of Health guidelines.

The essential need for healthcare technology training
Demand for safer patient care is underlined by growing clinical negligence payouts. European healthcare expenditure has doubled since the 1980s feeding demand for cost-effective and ever more efficient technologies.

Trained users are as important in healthcare as the medical technology itself. But only a minority of professionals have the skills to delivery many of the promising new medical technologies. The NHS needs reliable time-efficient tools to train large numbers of clinicians in relevant advanced medical technologies.

TFI helps the NHS to use emerging technologies better. Our top priority is to improve the training tools for healthcare professionals to ensure the correct implementation of high impact, advanced medical technologies.

We also develop skill assessment tools and encourage local monitoring to ensure the appropriate clinical skills are available in all hospitals.