New ideas, new ways? The word is so frequently used in healthcare, and I am interested in exactly what it means. What do you think "innovation" means?
In health, innovation is usually linked to desirable and practical improvements in the consumer experience and outputs of care. I argue that innovation needs the consumer at the centre of idea generation, implementation and adoption. The consumer outcome is the WHY? of healthcare.
Do we really know what consumers want and prioritise in healthcare, and do we support ways of finding out?
For me this continues to drive my work. We know that walking the talk with the consumer at the centre creates much better innovation. From starting up Chronic Pain Australia in the early 2000's through to the recent citizens' juries I ran in Western Sydney. The juries were informed by the evidence and delivered something rarely seen - the juries delivered the well informed views of a representative sample of WS population - the health and social care priorities of people in WS. Working with WS people has been one of the major highlights of my career. Importantly, the lens is "for the public good".
Not surprising to me was that the people want preventative healthcare that is relationship-based, that keeps families together for the health and wellbeing of this and future generations. The community wants accessible and effective preventative health care. Now that we know, how do we provide that care? The community needs organisations that are ready to listen and support these priorities in culturally respectful ways.
And this, in my world, is innovation. The irony is that the identified priorities are what humans have wanted forever. It is the relationship that defines us. Being healthy and well to be able to respond to and care for our loved ones - and others in the community that we don't even know. We are defined by kindness and compassion and it is what makes us the species we are on planet Earth.
Now that the Jury project has come to an end, I am looking forward to working on new projects and with new organisations that put the consumer at the centre. I love working in the community.
Tell me what you think "innovation" means. Let's get on with it.