Innovation is the key

One of the keynote speeches at the recent Healthcare Innovation Expo event was given by the Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley who took the opportunity to explain, to an audience largely comprising senior NHS managers and staff, how the modernisation plans, outlined in last year’s Health and Social Care Bill, would “encourage innovation to drive up quality and value.” Mr Lansley told the audience about his long-held belief in the value of innovation in healthcare delivery. Such innovation should, he explained, continue to be a central element of the modern NHS going forward. He explained about the determination of the Government that the proposed changes to commissioning and care delivery should “put a resilient focus on improving health outcomes by putting more power in the hands of clinicians.” He also commented on the importance of focussing on the needs of customers, and believes that future success will be about putting the consumers of NHS services – the patients – first, and personalising their care. At one end of the spectrum this is “about making the most of the latest technologies to improve the diagnosis and treatment of rare conditions, or to tailor drug treatments to an individual person”, while at the other end, it was about “bringing together clinicians with their colleagues in social care to build personalised care and treatment packages for patients with complex, long-term conditions”. While patients should always be “at the very heart of care”, and should be closely consulted about their treatment options, effective integrated treatment would also mean different public and private sector agencies increasingly working together, alongside a growing integration of health and social care.

Patient outcomes

On the subject of patient outcomes, Mr Lansley said that the Outcomes Framework, published by the Department of Health (DoH) last December would, in future, be the main means of measuring whether clinical outcomes were actually being achieved. However, he went to say that, while the Framework gave NHS staff a clear indication of what the Government and the DoH were trying to achieve, it was important that this did not stifle innovation or “tell staff what to do”. He said: “The Outcomes Framework document was produced after extremely wide-ranging consultation with the public, NHS staff, patient groups, and others, and in particular for this year highlights two priority areas, including improving recovery from stroke, and improving children’s and young people’s experience of healthcare”. Meanwhile four outcomes that Mr Lansley expects to see in future Outcomes Frameworks were: improving health outcomes for those with learning difficulties; for those with long-term conditions, for children and young people with mental illness, and enhancing the quality of care for people with dementia. Mr Lansley told the audience about the importance of moving the focus from processes to outcomes, and that outcomes would be “hard drivers of change”. In this context, he said that the tariffs paid to healthcare providers would need to stimulate and reward efficiency and innovation, as well as ensure value-formoney for patients. While acknowledging that the notion of opening up the care provision market to “any willing provider” had not met with universal enthusiasm, Mr Lansley said he believed it could only enhance standards. He said: “Providers will actually be competing on quality, not price, since they will need to offer their services on the basis of fixed local and national tariffs which we have already agreed. At the point of referral or choice, quality will be the only consideration.” Mr Lansley is determined that in the future bureaucracy should no longer stifle innovation. He said that “clinically-led patient focused innovation” was the way forward, acknowledging that excessive bureaucracy can stifle innovation.