Listening to digital health innovators - first and second reports

Listening to digital health innovators report 2021
NHSx 20 August 2021 

• The second listening to digital health innovators report, compiled in the spring of 2021, reflects the impact of the pandemic for companies who have been working closely with the NHS and social care. This report picks out five themes that innovators have highlighted over the course of the pandemic and how NHSX is addressing them.

Listening to digital health innovators

NHSX 15 October 2019

• Results of a listening exercise by NHSX with digital innovators suggested five key priorities for NHSX. The key themes are Standards, Procurement, Approach and scale, Engagement and Digital capability.

Achieving Innovation in Health and Social Care: a narrative review

Achieving Innovation in Health and Social Care: a narrative review
Life Science Hub Wales June 2021

• This narrative review of innovation in health and social care examines summarises and simplifies best practices and key concepts to help guide stakeholders working across industry and health and social care in Wales. Part of the Achieving Innovation hub on Life Sciences Hub Wales.

Agile Innovation to transform healthcare

Agile Innovation to transform healthcare: innovating in complex adaptive systems is an everyday process, not a light bulb event
BMJ Innovations 2021;7:499-505.

• The process of Agile Innovation is an approach any complex adaptive organisation can adopt to achieve rapid, systematic, customer-centred development and testing of innovative interventions. Agile Innovation incorporates insights from design thinking, Agile project management, and complexity and behavioural sciences. It was refined through experiments in diverse healthcare organisations. 
• The eight steps of Agile Innovation are: (1) confirm demand; (2) study the problem; (3) scan for solutions; (4) plan for evaluation and termination; (5) ideate and select; (6) run innovation development sprints; (7) validate solutions; and (8) package for launch.

Rapid prioritisation of topics for rapid evaluation

Rapid prioritisation of topics for rapid evaluation: the case of innovations in adult social care and social work
Health Res Policy Sys (2021) 19:34 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-021-00693-2

• A process of rapidly identifying and prioritising a shortlist of innovations for rapid evaluation applied in the field of adult social care and social work based on an adaptation of the James Lind Alliance approach.
• See also Q&As with one of the authors:

NHS X Innovation Collaboratives

Supporting care with remote monitoring
NHS X

• Seven regional Innovation Collaboratives are working to implement the use of tech-enabled remote monitoring for supporting patients with COVID-19. These innovation collaboratives are also working to scale existing projects that use technology, devices or apps to support patients to monitor and manage their health or long term conditions.
• Innovation Collaboratives - Digital Health workspace on the NHS futures platform

Enabling innovation and adoption in health and social care: Developing a shared view

Enabling innovation and adoption in health and social care: Developing a shared view
CQC 8 February 2021

• Principles and case studies to help providers maximise opportunities for innovation to improve patient outcomes.

Despite advances in technology and care models, the health and social care system in England could be better at spreading the best innovations and maximising the benefits for people who use services.

The use of public engagement for technological innovation: literature review and case studies

The use of public engagement for technological innovation: literature review and case studies
Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy 28 January 2021

• Research describing evidence on the current use of public engagement for policy development and regulation of technological innovation.

An Innovator’s Guide to the NHS: Navigating the barriers to digital health

An Innovator’s Guide to the NHS: Navigating the barriers to digital health
Decideum Ltd for Boehringer Ingelheim 2 December 2020

• A comprehensive assessment of the English health system, pooling key stakeholder insights and signposting to further information for entrepreneurs to overcome barriers to the adoption of new technologies.

The Beneficial Changes Network

The Beneficial Changes Network

• The Beneficial Changes Network has come together to build on the incredible ways in which people and systems have responded to COVID-19 through innovation and collaboration, whilst safeguarding effective health and care delivery. The Network is a collaborative group of health and social care stakeholders and people with lived experience who want to harness and capture the benefits, evaluate these changes, to share the knowledge and embed the learning across the entire health and care sector.
• See case studies and practical guidance on the FutureNHS platform [registration required]

How can we learn from changes in practice under COVID-19?

How can we learn from changes in practice under COVID-19? A guide for health and care teams to learn from innovations during the pandemic
Analytical Collaboration for COVID-19 October 2020

• This guide has been developed to help health and social care teams and their leaders learn from service changes put in place or accelerated during the COVID-19 response. Includes useful tools and resources eg learning frameworks, knowledge mobilisation, sharing learning, evaluation.
• Produced as part of the Analytical Collaboration for COVID-19 which brings together: the Health Foundation; King’s Fund; Nuffield Trust, Imperial College Health Partners and the Strategy Unit.

Providers Deliver: Resilient And Resourceful Through COVID-19

Providers Deliver: Resilient And Resourceful Through COVID-19
NHS Providers October 2020

• Eight examples of ideas put into action by providers to combat the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Themes include staff empowerment, innovation, and development of new partners.

OUH COVID-19 Response Innovation and technology retrospective (March – June 2020)

OUH COVID-19 Response Innovation and technology retrospective (March – June 2020)
The Hill September 2020

• This report was undertaken to rapidly capture what, how and why innovation took place within the Oxford University Hospitals NHS FT during the initial three months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through stories from staff, it highlights opportunities and challenges for innovation within the Trust and concludes by suggesting how these insights may form the basis of work in defining and reshaping the Trust’s digital and innovation activities.

What influences improvement processes in healthcare? A rapid evidence review

What influences improvement processes in healthcare? A rapid evidence review
RAND 15 September 2020

• The Healthcare Improvement Studies (THIS) Institute commissioned RAND Europe to conduct a rapid evidence review of the academic and grey literature, to draw out initial learning about what influences quality improvement processes in healthcare, and to inform potential themes to explore in future research.
• The reviewers identified and reviewed 38 academic and 16 grey literature publications covering diverse improvement approaches. Some examples include Six Sigma, Lean, Business Process Reengineering, Plan-Do-Study-Act, clinical audits and feedback, quality improvement collaboratives and peer-learning communities, training and education interventions, and patient engagement and feedback-related interventions.
• Based on the reviewed literature, six key factors influence the implementation of improvement efforts: 
• Leadership; 
• Relationships and interactions that support an improvement culture; 
• Skills and competencies; 
• Use of data;
• Patient and public involvement, engagement and participation; and 
• Working as an interconnected system of individuals and organisations, influenced by internal and external contexts

Innovation Collaborative - Digital Health

Innovation Collaborative - Digital Health

FutureNHS (registration required) Launched 10 August 2020

• This space is dedicated to accelerating the spread of evidenced digital innovations in health and care with a focus on empowering people with their data, and supporting people at home 
• See NHS X News here.

Three ways to unlock collaboration between startups and the third sector

Three ways to unlock collaboration between startups and the third sector
NESTA 6 August 2020

• The third sector and startups are often thought of as unlikely collaborating partners due to a number of barriers – institutional, financial, legal, cultural – that undermine or even prevent them from working successfully together. Yet, there is much to gain when the two worlds align. By tapping into startups’ innovative ideas and ways of working, third sector organisations can explore novel ways to achieve impact that are vital to remaining fit for purpose.

Guidance to support rapid successful changes to health and social care that will last during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic

Guidance to support rapid successful changes to health and social care that will last during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic
ARC South London 29 July 2020

• An interactive resource to support the rapid implementation and evaluation of health and social care innovations, interventions and new services during, and after, the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Henry Fords of Healthcare

The Henry Fords of Healthcare
Institute of Economic Affairs 28 July 2020

• An examination of the lessons Western nations could learn from some developing countries in fostering innovation and entrepreneurship in healthcare.

Beneficial innovations from COVID-19

Beneficial innovations from COVID-19
British Geriatrics Society 3 July 2020

• Examples of innovations contributed by BGS members that have been implemented in their areas:
• Proactive anticipatory care for older people with frailty
• Urgent primary care response
• Specialist-les assessment and treatment at home
• Coordinated multi-agency support for care homes
• Person-centred advance care planning
• Age-attuned acute care
• Safe, effective and timely transfers of care
• Optimising recovery and rehabilitation
• Virtual clinics
• Digitally-enabled care

The innovation lottery: Upgrading the spread of innovation in the NHS

The innovation lottery: Upgrading the spread of innovation in the NHS
IPPR 26 June 2020

• New analysis shows that if the UK were to spread innovation quickly and consistently it would save an estimated 20,000 avoidable deaths each year.
• IPPR’s research with people working in the system showed three thematic barriers experienced by the frontline, which should be immediate priorities.
• A risk-averse culture, driven by the approach to performance management and focus on short-term targets.
• The sheer complexity of the NHS, coupled with a lack of networks, creating a ‘not invented here’ culture.
• A lack of resource, including a lack of financial support.

Going ‘Back To Better

10 Leaps Forward – Innovation In The Pandemic.
What We Want To Keep From This Experience - Going ‘Back To Better
London South Bank University May 2020

• Results of a survey of frontline, senior, board and middle leadership across different NHS sectors to reflect on their pandemic experiences.