Good medicine for healthcare

Innovating and improving the UK's healthcare administration and patient support services is just as important as discovering the latest wonder-drug treatment; in the long run, Geoff Mulgan argues, it may even be more important.

Healthcare and medicine have long been associated with great innovation - from the very latest breakthroughs in medical research to establishing the importance of hygiene in the treatment of infectious disease.

Today, healthcare innovation is largely associated with pharmaceutical development, with research teams attracting generous funding and competing to develop new drugs and treatments.

However, Geoff Mulgan, Director of The Young Foundation believes that we also need to focus our attention on innovation within the very structure and administration of healthcare.

Chronic disease - a new epidemic

"Paradoxically it's the success of drug therapies in treating acute conditions that has led to greater numbers of people living longer with chronic disease," says Geoff Mulgan.

"We are no longer threatened by TB or cholera, but instead people live for years with cardiac conditions, diabetes and some cancers. The way that we deal with people in these situations has got to change."

This is where the Health Innovation Accelerator (HIA) comes in. Developed by The Young Foundation with investment from NESTA, this new initiative aims to kick-start innovation in healthcare administration.

The HIA will bring together small, multi-disciplinary teams of professionals, patients, NGO's and social entrepreneurs to develop ideas for new models of treatment and support.

The idea is that by mixing skills - for example entrepreneurial vision with 'insider' knowledge of how the healthcare system works - bold, yet practical, strategies will be developed.

The Health Innovation Accelerator

Nothing quite like the HIA currently exists. As Geoff says, "The Health Innovation Accelerator is primarily intended to fill a crucial gap in the funding and support available to early-stage social ventures, to get them from being a promising idea, to a stage at which they can attract additional funding and investment."

What's more, new models of treatment are particularly suitable when dealing with chronic disease management, as they can build in a large degree of patient involvement.

"Often patients become expert about their own condition, and health services are increasingly going to want to draw on that knowledge," Geoff explains.

The Expert Patients Programme is a good example of this within the NHS and 'Patient Opinion' , a website where people can share their opinion of health services and rank the care that they received, is the kind of project the HIA plans to develop. The HIA is currently working towards an autumn 2007 launch.

The Young Foundation - a strong track record of social innovation

The Young Foundation was founded in 2005, the result of a merger between the Institute of Community Studies and the Mutual Aid Centre, both creations of Michael Young.

One of the most successful social innovators of his time, Michael Young had a hand in the formation of dozens of organisations. These included the Consumers' Association, the Open University, and after-school clubs, as well as important innovations in health like the Patients Association, Healthline, one of the trailblazers for NHS Direct. He was also involved with the College of Health, which paved the way for the Expert Patients Programme.

The HIA will also benefit from cross-pollination with other current Young Foundation projects. "We have just commissioned research on the 'long-term future of health'" says Geoff, "and obviously the findings will feed into the work of the HIA."

The association with NESTA will also play a part. Geoff says, "It's a great network to tap into, NESTA's support and work with entrepreneurial talent in the UK is something that will have a real impact on what we are trying to achieve. It's a very exciting partnership."