What does this mean for libraries?
The fourth principle suggested in this report, namely ‘adopt the best ideas and share your learning’ (p.11), is probably the area that library and knowledge services (LKS) have a big part to play. The report suggests learning about what other organisations are doing, and LKS can support this by enabling access to the evidence base, by providing mediated searching, or by providing synthesising or summarising services that could include case studies of service innovations as well as other forms of evidence.
In addition, LKS promote and support the use of knowledge management techniques to help share learning. This could include techniques such as after action reviews or retrospects, the results of which could be made available in a repository. LKS staff can also support health and social care staff in writing up and publishing their innovation – this could be in a peer-reviewed journal, but it could also be shared via a repository, or more informally via a site such as Fab NHS Stuff. Initiatives such as the LKS North West Awards Project Group’s ‘Get Recognised for Excellence’ can help to raise awareness of recognition and award schemes for NHS staff and help to encourage staff to share innovations more widely.
Whilst innovation is not just about digital initiatives, these may be an important part of many innovations and bodies such as NHSX are supporting this strategy (p.17). LKS have a role to play in supporting the development of digital literacy so that digital initiatives can be rolled out with greater engagement and confidence from staff.
Many libraries are already working on staff publication databases, and some of these may include the outputs from knowledge management activities. There is a pilot project underway involving HEE, The British Library and a number of NHS LKS to create a repository of staff publications and other outputs, and as this is potentially rolled out more widely it should help to make it easier to find and share information about innovations.
Source: Care Quality Commission (CQC)
Date of publication: February 2021
Summary of driver:
The pandemic has required people to find innovative ways of providing services and collaborating across local systems. There have been many planned innovations brought forward, and greater sharing of information across the health and social care sector.
Services face continued pressure (for example, by 2043, almost a quarter of the UK population is expected to be aged 65 or older, up from about a fifth today ) but also opportunities to use new ideas and technologies.
There is a lack of clarity about innovation means, and how to do it. This report offers some evidence-based principles to underpin innovation, agreed with the national organisations involved in the report.
The agreed principles are:
- Develop and deploy innovations with the people that will use them
This could include staff and service users. Co-production and user testing are recommended.
- Develop a culture where innovation can happen
Give people permission to innovate. Leaders should seek ideas for improvement and listen to staff feedback. Success is celebrated but it is recognised that success is often partial, and that there is a lot to learn from what doesn’t work.
- Support your people
An innovative organisation gives its people time to develop and deliver ideas. It is important to provide the training people need to use the innovation effectively.
- Adopt the best ideas and share your learning
It is likely that someone else has faced a similar problem before. Support people to develop networks and learn about what other organisations are doing. Share learning with others.
- Focus on outcomes and impact
Articulate realistic objectives and success measures that are clearly linked to the outcomes for people who use services. Impact should be measured carefully.
- Be flexible when managing change
In the report, the term innovation covers both invention (creating new ideas, products, services or models of care) and adoption (implementing what has worked elsewhere). It is also important to adapt innovations to the local context.
There are some common misconceptions that the report highlights (p.12-14):
- ‘Only brand-new ideas count as innovation’
- ‘Innovation is all about cutting edge technology’
- ‘A proven innovation can just be rolled out in a new setting and achieve the same outcomes’
- ‘Innovation is just for the biggest and best organisations’
All organisations, big and small, need to be innovative but at a national level there are a number of projects taking place.
The Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC) at NHS England and NHS Improvement will build on this publication and develop a strategy to increase capacity to adopt innovation.
Health Education England (HEE) will help staff to develop their capability to innovate and implement digital technologies.
The National Association of Primary Care (NAPC) will use the findings in this paper to continue to develop innovative solutions across health and social care and encourage colleagues to come together to think differently.
The National Care Forum (NCF) is part of the Care Provider Alliance, which is working in partnership with NHS Digital and Skills for Care on the Digital Social Care project. It will continue to champion the voice of care providers in creating and shaping innovation in care delivery to improve the quality of care.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) will continue to work with system partners to encourage and support a quality and safety-focused approach, in which commissioners and providers use NICE guidance and other NICE-accredited sources to improve outcomes.
NHSX will work with regions, providers and commissioners to help scale digital innovation. The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) will use the innovation principles to support innovation in the sector via the Social Care Innovation Network (SCIN).
The report concludes with a number of case studies across health and social care, and shows how some or all of the six principles applied to them (p.20-36)
Tagged: Innovation, Research and development