Programme uncovers strong appetite for innovations in long-term healthcare

15/8/11

Six local projects have been selected by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) and the Innovation Unit to take part in ‘People Powered Health’, a new programme designed to support the design and delivery of innovative services for people that are living with long term health conditions.

Each local project is a partnership led by the following organisations:

Calderdale: Calderdale and Huddersfield Foundation Trust

Lambeth: NHS Lambeth

Leeds: Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust

Newcastle: Newcastle Bridges Commissioning Consortium, a pathfinder GP consortium

Kensington and Chelsea: Turning Point

Stockport: Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council: Adult Social Care.

The projects were selected from 108 applications responding to a call in early June 2011 for ideas from partnerships of commissioners, providers and consumers of health and social care services to develop innovative solutions that achieve better outcomes for people living with long term health conditions and reduce the pressure on health services. 

The focus of the programme is the concept of co-production - the idea that people's needs are better met when they are involved in an equal and reciprocal relationship with professionals, working together to get things done. 

Over the next 15 months each of these partnerships will be supported to develop their ideas with a grant of up to £100,000 and up to 20 days of non financial support from leading experts in the fields of co-production, service design, economic modelling, health economics, change management, leadership, commissioning and procurement.

Philip Colligan of NESTA's Public Services Lab, says: 'The number of people living with long term health conditions is one of the biggest challenges facing health services across the world and there is  wide agreement that we need radical new approaches that combine the expertise and resources of professionals and patients.  We're delighted to be working with health organisations and patients' groups in these six areas as they pioneer new approaches to supporting people to live with long term conditions.'

Paul Corrigan, health expert and Senior Associate at the Innovation Unit, says: 'Over 15 million people in the UK have at least one long term health condition. As well as impacting on individuals and their families the treatment of these conditions cost the NHS and the economy billions every year. We've seen co-production make a difference at the margins, now we're building on the fantastic work of these six local projects to bring it into the mainstream.' 

The aim of the programme is to work with the six partnerships to generate practical learning and inspiration that can be applied across the health sector and beyond.

-          Ends -

Notes to editor:

For further information please visit www.nesta.org.uk or contact:

Jan Singleton 020 7438 2606/ jan.singleton@nesta.org.uk

About People Powered Health

People Powered Health is a new programme from NESTA, working with the Innovation Unit, to support the design and delivery of innovative services for people that are living with long term health conditions.

Over the next 15 months, we will provide investment and support to partnerships of commissioners, providers and consumers of health and social care services to develop innovative solutions that achieve better outcomes for people living with long term health conditions and reduce the pressure on health services. 

The focus of the programme is the concept of co-production - that people's needs are better met when they are involved in an equal and reciprocal relationship with professionals, working together to get things done.  We are particularly interested in learning about how these approaches can be taken to scale.

Our aim is both to provide practical support to the partnerships involved in the programme to successfully develop and implement their ideas, and to generate practical learning and inspiration that can be applied across the health sector and beyond.

About NESTA

NESTA is the UK's foremost independent expert on how innovation can solve some of the country's major economic and social challenges. Its work is enabled by an endowment, funded by the National Lottery, and it continues to operate at no cost to the taxpayer. 

NESTA is a world leader in its field and carries out its work through a blend of experimental programmes, analytical research and investment in early-stage companies. www.nesta.org.uk   

About the Innovation Unit

Innovation Unit is a not-for-profit social enterprise committed to using the power of innovation to help meet the major social challenges we face today, whether it's tackling climate change, eradicating child poverty or making a difference to a child's learning.

There are a range of answers to the question, how do we do it? Every project we work with is unique and requires a bespoke approach. We believe creativity is important and we can be creative when we need to. But creativity isn't enough. To achieve lasting change innovation must be systematic and disciplined.  This is at the heart of all of our methods. We have radical ambitions.

Many organisations help public services to improve incrementally; and many organisations work on a small scale to make a local difference. However, our ambitions are greater than this. We aim to support radical innovation in public services and we aim to achieve change on a large scale, by creating better system conditions for innovation. We put public service before profits. We are a not-for-profit social enterprise, which means we care about improving things for everyone. We use what we know to influence public debate, re-shape public policy and transform public services, leading to improvements that everyone can learn from.

A range of publications on the Innovation Unit website provide insight into the IU approach:  see:  www.innovationunit.org