Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of abbreviations
- Notes on the authors
- Introduction
- one Transplanted roots: where the innovation came from
- two Fertile ground? The organisational milieux of the treatment centres
- three Taking up the challenge: local motives for the innovation
- four The impact of the wider policy context
- five Achieving the goals? How and why the treatment centres evolved
- six Improving practice? Evidence of innovative ways of working
- seven Summary and conclusions: making sense of what happened
- eight Implications for policy, practice and research
- Appendix 1 Early definitions of a treatment centre
- Appendix 2 The study design and methods
- References
eight - Implications for policy, practice and research
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 September 2022
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of abbreviations
- Notes on the authors
- Introduction
- one Transplanted roots: where the innovation came from
- two Fertile ground? The organisational milieux of the treatment centres
- three Taking up the challenge: local motives for the innovation
- four The impact of the wider policy context
- five Achieving the goals? How and why the treatment centres evolved
- six Improving practice? Evidence of innovative ways of working
- seven Summary and conclusions: making sense of what happened
- eight Implications for policy, practice and research
- Appendix 1 Early definitions of a treatment centre
- Appendix 2 The study design and methods
- References
Summary
What follows is a series of practical tips that reflect what appeared to us to have affected the outcome of the TCs’ stories. If many seem just common sense, we can only point to the old saying that common sense is not always common. Some points are included because there appeared to be clear benefits when they were well executed, but many are included because the failure to deploy them at one or more sites may well have undermined the intended improvements. These general points highlight some of the important lessons for future organisational innovations in health services, but undoubtedly the most useful lessons will be those that readers will have drawn from relating their own experiences to the TC stories as they read them. It is those varied and specific experiences and contexts that will bring out the relevant lessons for readers’ own organisations.
For policy makers
1 Top-down target-led central innovations will inevitably be re-crafted at the local level to suit local needs and build on existing initiatives; they need therefore to retain appropriate flexibility (headroom) if they are to be crafted while still successfully fulfilling their core objectives (see Chapters Two and Three).
2 Policy makers should try to facilitate local innovation using not blueprints and design rules but ‘design principles’ that acknowledge the likelihood that rational planning of innovations will be limited in both its feasibility and its applicability in the volatile environment of health service management (see Chapter Seven).
3 Even where an organisational innovation has all the attributes of likely success (for example, that it is widely acknowledged to have high relative advantage; seems compatible with the values, norms and perceived needs of those who are expected to adopt it; and has the potential to be adapted to a range of local requirements) there is no guarantee that it will work. It is therefore also necessary to explore very carefully the potential interaction between the innovation, its intended adopters and its context when assessing the likelihood of successful implementation. It is also vital to strive to ensure that related policies do not undermine the intended innovation (see Chapters Four and Five).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Organisational Innovation in Health ServicesLessons from the NHS Treatment Centres, pp. 133 - 146Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2011