Innovation should be the life blood of the NHS and no-one is better placed to conceive new ways of improving patient care than those who deliver it. However, despite being brilliant at generating ideas, healthcare staff often lack the contacts, know-how or time to take their ideas forward. Lack of a joined-up approach between managers and frontline staff often leads to apathy, with the words innovation and National Health Service often being regarded as an oxymoron.
Clinical leaders, government officials and NHS management came together to debate the future of NHS care and find solutions to the barriers that exist between the development of innovative solutions and their impact on patient care. “The relationship between NHS managers and frontline staff has been likened to that between a husband and his estranged wife.
They don’t talk to each other, they may not even like each other, but they stay together for the sake of the patients,” said Andy Goldberg, an NHS orthopaedic surgeon and founder of Medical Futures. Later in the year, similar meetings will be held on cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes and critical care.
www.medicalfutures.co.uk