A Health Innovation Council has been established as part of the NHS next-stage review which is being chaired by Lord Darzi.
The DH have posed a number of questions for the next part of the review:
- What are the existing barriers to innovation in the NHS?
- What are the most important policy measures which we could take in order to release the full potential of innovation across the NHS?
- What are the most significant challenges in implementing these policy measures?
The role of the council is “to act as the overarching guardian for innovation from discovery through adoption” and to hold the DH to account for the adoption of innovation and the removal of barriers which will allow this to happen.
Acevo will be responding to this review over the coming weeks and I would welcome any thoughts you might have.
More about the review can be found at www.nhs.uk/ournhs
My experience with the NHS is that it is unable to react to innovative solutions without it going through a number of levels (I call these filters rather than management) until the innovator’s will to life is under serious question OR it peters out. The key issue here is (as addressed albeit in a simplistic manner by Gerry Robinson) empowerment (the lack of) within NHS personnel to address on local issues.
Policies should be less prescriptive and be more descriptive enabling personnel to come up with their solutions within the wider framework to best address their local requirements.
Fear of failure is probably the most significant obstacle to innovation and this is especially true within the NHS as I see it.