Innovation UK > News > Healthcare > What drives innovation in health?

Innovation in the health service is not an option, but a necessity, essential to its survival and ability to cope with the economic and demographic challenges looming before it.

Fortunately, this realisation has united the “big guns” of government, industry and university research. And 2008 and 2009 have been landmark years in launching major partnership initiatives with all three sectors on board. Evidence shows that an innovation culture is up and running, and filtering not only throughout every level of the NHS, but also up and down its ranks. An attitude of “anyone can” has arrived, and examples are flourishing of new ways of working, new products and new services being developed as the result of ideas from hospital porters to laboratory technicians, midwives and consultants. The 1.3 million NHS employees have got the message. NHS Innovation is not an exclusive club – but open to anyone. And the independent and voluntary sectors are increasingly being welcomed as enthusiastic affiliates.

The key Department of Health strategy documents driving innovation in health, include:

• High Quality Care for All, 2008
• Innovation for a Healthier Future, 2009
• The Life Sciences Blueprint, a statement from the Office for Life Sciences, July 2009 (see box).

These have either been launched or given a publicity boost at a number of key events this year, including Healthcare Innovation Expo, June 2009, London. As well as new funding, other carrots are being dangled in the form of awards and prizes to lure anyone with a bright idea for improving health services to get it adopted, developed and into the NHS. These include: The Innovation Challenge Prizes launched by Lord Darzi, “will engage with innovators globally and invite them to devise exciting new ways to address key health challenges.”

Details are to be released later this year, but one of Britain’s top inventors, Trevor Baylis, inventor of the wind-up radio, is assisting the panel create a shortlist of possible challenges. “The prizes will be a key way in which to recognise and promote emerging best practice and the Challenges will be designed to engage a wide range of NHS staff,” says the DoH.

Driving innovation

Improving quality of care, better patient experience, safety and better outcomes are always quoted as the drivers for change. But there is a significant body of evidence which suggests that innovation produces long-term savings overall. It is believed that cost-effective innovation in the public sector will not only help to provide the best quality of care, but will also stimulate the private sector and invigorate the economy. The incentive for Boards and Chief Executives to embrace and raise the profile of innovation in their organisations is, simply, that it will lead to improved care.

But innovation is no longer an option for England’s SHAs. Alongside new investment came a legal duty “to promote innovation and support the diffusion of innovative technologies and solutions throughout the health service”. SHAs gratefully accepted the funding and vowed commitment. NHS East Midlands’ response to Lord Darzi’s announcement was typical. Kathy McLean, their Medical Director, said: “There is a wide range of leading-edge research across the NHS and in the East Midlands, presenting enormous opportunities to implement new ideas and innovations for the benefit of patients. We are committed to making these a reality to ensure better, higher quality care for patients and offering a healthier future for our communities.”

But what have any of the SHAs done since then? A spokesman for the Department of Health says: “We do not routinely performance manage the £220m – each SHA will produce an annual innovation report which will set out what they have spent the money on, and the impact that investment has made.” So it is too soon to say. However, alongside the £220m funding for SHAs, Lord Darzi announced “a support structure” to help prop up and steer their new plans. This is a partnership with the National Endowment for Science and Technology and the Arts (NESTA) and the Young Foundation – both acting as advisers to the SHAs.

Jonathan Kestenbaum, NESTA Chief Executive, said at the time: “The pressures on delivering high-quality healthcare have never been greater. Yesterday’s solutions to tomorrow’s problems won’t work. The SHA Innovation Fund will ensure that fresh ideas and radical thinking by frontline staff can be delivered across the NHS.” NESTA has developed expertise in how to encourage innovative public services, and the Young Foundation’s main goal is to speed up society’s ability to respond to changing needs through innovating and replicating new methods and models.

Simon Tucker, head of the the Young Foundation’s Health Launchpad, commented: “Since the Department of Health Regional Innovation Funds were announced, NESTA and the Young Foundation have been working closely with the SHAs, advising on the design of robust selection processes and investment criteria for innovation proposals. In order to capture learnings as the fund develops, and to ensure consistency in the advice given, we are also developing a comprehensive resource pack. “The experience of NESTA and the Young Foundation, through projects such as Health Launchpad, a health innovation incubator, demonstrates that by stimulating innovation this way – through the creation of new ventures within the health service – we can create innovative and sustainable solutions that help us tackle the challenge to deliver better outcomes for patients for much less.”

SHAs may be moving forward slowly, but they are far from standing still. A trawl through their websites, plus some calls to their media relations departments, paint an encouraging picture of what has already been achieved. For example, East Midlands has many examples of innovation already in place, but it only launched its invitation for bids to NHS organisations for its Regional Innovation Fund on 7 September. It said: “We are looking to support the spread and adoption of innovative, leadingedge approaches, tools, products, technologies across the East Midlands. We are inviting new innovation ideas or those suitable for adaptation from industry and other settings to improve patient care.”

Existing innovation successes include: a new website to increase Chlamydia screening in Lincolnshire; a specialist advice centre for cancer patients known as “The Pod” in Nottinghamshire; a nutritional toolkit to help people with a learning disability choose their meals in Derbyshire; faster dispensing of medication to patients in Northamptonshire; and a leading approach to removing skin tumours in Leicestershire.

Other SHAs can boast similar successes, and many examples can be found on SHAs’ own websites or at: www.healthcareinnovationexpo.co.uk

One initiative from NHS Innovations Yorkshire and Humber, ECGskills.net was launched in November 2008 and has since sold to more than 20 countries worldwide. It says: “ECGskills.net – a unique online training resource for doctors, nurses, paramedics and cardiac technicians involved in conducting and interpreting ECGs – was developed by Professor Channer, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in conjunction with Medcom ltd., an online medical training company.”

Taking ideas forward can lead to radical improvements in the way health is delivered – whether they are simple, practical steps leading to more time-efficient working or large-scale technological advances – they all make a difference. But the Next Stage Review Report found that leadership, vision and investment in innovation (particularly diffusion) varied across the NHS – which is why innovation is being made a legal obligation.

Case studies now show that the innovation vision from the top has at last been caught by all the NHS organisations below. But promoting and implementing the vision will remain a challenge.

Life Sciences Blueprint

A new blueprint to put innovation at the heart of healthcare delivery has been launched by Lord Drayson and Lord Darzi, who said: “By placing innovation at the heart of healthcare delivery we will help create a pioneering NHS, one that responds to patients’ expectations, and one where the adoption of new ideas and the diffusion of innovation is encouraged and supported.” One of the most significant measures in the blueprint is the “Innovation Pass”, which will allow patients faster access to innovative medicines. To be administered by NICE, the “Pass” will allow time-limited use of innovative medicines on the NHS. It will be piloted in 2010/2011 with a budget of £25m.

Other measures include the creation of a Strategic Health Authority Delivery Group to improve uptake and engagement between industry and the NHS.