It's not always bad to be a copycat
It’s Sunday evening, and I’m in charge of bed time – if not in control. ‘I’m emptying the boat!’ says my 4-year old, using her milk cup to hurl as much water as she can from the bath to the floor....
Avoiding the pilot pitfalls: how can the Vanguards help others in the NHS to succeed too?
Let’s follow the logic: to improve quality and efficiency, the NHS needs to change dramatically. Given widespread variation, the parts of the NHS which particularly need to change are those particu...
Keeping the faith: transforming health and social care in Northern Ireland
Whilst Northern Ireland differs from much of the rest of the NHS in having an integrated health and social care system, it faces many of the same challenges and must deliver similar changes if it i...
We’ve discovered a shortcut to innovation…go outside the box
Ask people if they think they are innovative. Go on, see what they say. The reality is that we are very competent using innovations, but not very innovative ourselves. This could not be more true f...
Given the opportunity, what would I say to the new Secretary of State for Health?
I have pondered over this question many times. If I was in charge what would I do, what would I say, what would I want to achieve? During the last three decades working in the NHS (currently as Ass...
Six big ideas for health
Our final two days were spent in groups, developing and testing strategies that participants want to progress on return to their workplaces. The report out of these six groups provided some valuabl...
Quality, affordability and scale in healthcare: learning from Narayana
uch has been said and written over the past few years about the work of Dr Devi Shetty and the Narayana Health system. With 17 hospitals covering a full range of specialities and employing 1300 doc...
Improving equity in healthcare through innovation
Visiting The LV Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) in Hyderabad as part of the IPIHD study tour, I was expecting to see something along the lines of Aravind's high volume, high quality and low cost catar...
Five ways to deliver high quality care at low cost
Imagine you are responsible for healthcare in a country where 30 million people are in poverty because of healthcare costs, where you are contending with communicable diseases eradicated in many pa...
Smart sensors and wearable tech: the future for the NHS?
We often lament how off the pace the NHS is in harnessing the power of the internet. The rest of our lives have been transformed by the ability to access information, book flights and buy anything ...
