New study explores how countries can accelerate healthcare innovation

Health services and care providers need the time and space to learn and adopt new methods, researchers at the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) have urged.

An ongoing WISH study, ‘Global Diffusion of Healthcare Innovation (GDHI): Accelerating the Journey’, focuses on the capabilities of a country’s health system when it comes to successfully implementing innovations, looking to identify the key factors in success and failure. According to the report, behaviour and attitudes within practice are a crucial factor, together with wider engagement with the public.

The report chose eight case studies for its analysis, taken from eight countries with very contrasting health systems. England was one of these countries, with the innovation being that of new medical imaging analysis tools, launched in 2002 so that all hospital trusts could benefit from storing images electronically.

Seven other case studies were taken from Argentina, Nepal, Singapore, Sweden, the United States, and Zambia.

Director of GDHI, Greg Parston, comments: “Here at WISH we have seen some amazing new medical innovations and heard first hand fantastic examples of innovative practices to improve care for patients. What we hope our new research will do is help policymakers and health professionals move beyond conventional innovation theory and equip themselves with the practical tools and the knowledge needed to help overcome common challenges and to implement and diffuse healthcare innovations more rapidly within their own health systems.”

The GDHI project is an ongoing study that will look to assess how healthcare innovations can be felt worldwide, better informing different healthcare structures as to how they can best adapt to and roll out new methods based on the successes and pitfalls other countries have experienced.

Executive chair of WISH, Professor Ara Darzi, said: “The new research into health innovation diffusion which we’re publishing today will prove extremely valuable for policymakers across the world. It’s an essential tool if we are to get better at spreading innovation and meet the modern health challenges of today. If we can identify the type of environment that helps make it easier for countries to look after their people in innovative and accessible ways, then we will all benefit, regardless of where we live or what kind of lifestyle we have.”