Promoting and Embedding Innovation

Against this background, and in the light of the
detailed findings presented in the rest of this
report, SHAs may wish to consider the
following „menu‟ for spreading innovation:
1. Build on previous NHS experience of
what has and hasn’t worked
Previous experience in the NHS Modernisation
Agency and the National Primary Care
Development Team under Sir John Oldham
has shown the benefits of working through
quality improvement collaboratives and
professional networks to stimulate and spread
innovation. Collaboratives and professional
networks are not a panacea but when used
skilfully can contribute to developing new ways
of working and service improvement (see p32).
2. Engage frontline staff and mobilise
commitment to change from within
The NHS Institute‟s work on social movement
theory is a practical example of how to engage
frontline staff and mobilise commitment to
change from within the NHS. This work is
closely related to the use of collaboratives and
professional networks, and it finds expression
in the notion of „communities of practice‟ as a
means of promoting innovation. SHAs could
establish and support a number of
communities of practice to facilitate coproduction
of quality and service improvement
in the next stage of reform.
3. Adopt a campaigning approach to
support action on key priorities
IHI‟s 100,000 lives campaign on patient safety
illustrates the impact that a campaigning
approach can have in areas where there is
good evidence of what works and where there
is a compelling case for concerted action to
enable change to happen quickly (see p23).
The promotional techniques, planning and use
of nodes and networks could be adopted and
adapted in the NHS, both at a national level
and within SHAs.
4. Support leaders and innovators through
training and by creating slack
Senior managers, clinical leaders and frontline
staff involved in innovation are likely to benefit
from training and the time and space to „get off
the treadmill‟ and develop their ideas. This
might involve a regional programme of training
and support but it is also likely to entail
enabling key individuals to visit other
organisations in the UK and elsewhere to learn
from their experience. Organisations like The
Health Foundation provide funding for
development opportunities of this kind.
5. Make it easy to find and share
knowledge about innovations
Like many large and complex organisations,
the NHS is weak in sharing information and
helping staff find out what has been tried
elsewhere and whether it works. Drawing on
the experience of the US Agency for
Healthcare Research and Quality, the NHS
could create a website to address this or
include local case studies on existing Web of
Knowledge sites, making it easier to discover
and share knowledge about innovations, and
spread intelligence about best practice (see
p26).
6. Learn from organisations that have a
track record of innovation
The US Veterans‟ Health Administration
illustrates how organisational turnaround and
improvement can occur through a linked
programme of interventions. These include
leadership from the top, structured
communication through internal newsletters,
emails and meetings, the use of collaboratives
and the adoption of a formal framework of
spread (see p28). This framework made use of
a checklist for spread that could be applied
with modification within the NHS. Cincinnati
Children‟s Hospital is another example that
underlines the role of organisational culture in
promoting innovation.
3 Learning from experience