The NHS Confederation

Project Name: Primary care: Innovating for the future

Project Summary: 

Before the pandemic, there was a conventional narrative on the barriers to innovation in the NHS. Many policy papers and reports repeated similar lists of obstacles: lack of financial incentives, resistance by clinicians and a top–down system, among others. However, during the pandemic, the emergency response to COVID-19 saw the most significant innovation and transformation of healthcare delivery at an astonishing pace. In this period, we have seen the agility of primary care and its ability to transform using technology, establishing new ways of working and collaboration across organisational boundaries. Some of this progress has been supported by the removal of bureaucratic obstacles and an emphasis on scaling localised innovation. 

Looking ahead after the pandemic, clinicians and healthcare system leaders will need to review how much of the conventional thinking on barriers to innovation still seems credible. Can they still insist on the importance of financial incentives, if such rapid change could happen without them? Can they still claim, with the same degree of certainty, clinicians are resistant to innovation, if those same clinicians could react so quickly during the crisis? What support do clinicians and local leaders need to lock-in the transformation gains made during the pandemic and innovate for the future? How do we foster innovative environments with a focus on local delivery, shifting from activity to outcomes, from demand to need? 

The principle aim of this CW is to:

• Explore and understand the barriers and challenges to innovation and transformation in primary care; and  
• create a space within which clinicians and healthcare system leaders can be equipped to utilize the innovation opportunities to transform the future of primary care (the ‘Innovation Convention’)

This executive summary has been updated in April 2023 and July 2023 to reflect an amendment to milestone 4 detailed below.

Planned Milestones:

Expected Benefits:

Anticipated benefits for Patients:

• Increased access to new and innovative models of care and interventions.
• Improved experience of care through better integrated and community focused models of care and prevention.

Anticipated benefits for the NHS:

• Increased access to examples of good practice and guidance in relation to innovations which contribute to the planning and delivery of high-quality care
• Strengthened understanding of and ability to apply new and innovative approaches such as population health management to accelerate post-COVID recovery across the NHS.
• Strengthened engagement with peers to collaborate in tackling practical issues facing local healthcare systems
• Increased awareness of the value of industry collaboration and partnership working to drive improvements in healthcare deliver and patient experience.

Anticipated Benefits for Novartis:

• Increased understanding of the key policy issues and challenges in healthcare, and use insights to support the development of innovation, best practice, and replication of learning across Novartis.
• Work collaboratively with healthcare systems and subject-matter experts, to co-design and implement policy and guidance, share knowledge, and facilitate learning to drive improvements in patient care, experience and outcomes.
• Develop thought leadership to increase the awareness of industry collaboration and partnership working to drive improvements in healthcare delivery and patient experience.

Start Date & Duration: Project initiation in April 2022 and originally planned to run for 3 months will now end in November 2023 following amendment to delivery of milestone 4. 

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Project Name: Primary care: Innovating for the future

Completion Date: 28 November 2023

Project Summary: 

This project focused on the planning and delivery of a meeting titled ‘The Innovation Convention’, a collaboration between NHS stakeholders, NHS Confederation and Novartis and was held in April 2022. As part of the planning phase a mapping exercise with both Novartis and NHS Confederation took place to determine good practice in relation to system working to improve population health outcomes and reduce health inequalities. This mapping exercise informed case studies which were used as a basis for discussion at the planned meeting.

The aim of the meeting was to discuss and understand the challenges and barriers to innovation within primary care with the intention that these discussions would inform a publication ‘A Practical Guide to Transforming Primary Care’. There was lower than expected attendance due to the post-covid preference for virtual meetings and therefore it was agreed that the project team would instead alter the plan to focus the report on providing a population health management resource.

The revised publication was distributed in November 2023 at the ICS Network Conference and was published on NHS Confederation website.

Key Project Outcomes Data:

The outcomes of this collaborative working project are as follows;

• Delivery of the Innovation Convention meeting.
• Publication and distribution of  the Population Health Management Resource 2023 at the ICS Network Conference 2023.

Outcomes:

The Population Health Management resource offers an overview of population health management (PHM), answering key questions and highlighting the benefits of successful adoption. It is intended to provide an introduction for primary care teams looking to develop and strengthen PHM in local systems

Conclusion:

Whilst there were fewer than anticipated attendees at the Innovation Convention, the meeting allowed for productive discussions and the publication of the Population Health Management Resource 2023. There were several delays to the completion of this project due to changes in personnel. However it is anticipated the recent distribution of the Population Health Management Resource 2023 will be a useful resource for health care professionals. 

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