Thread by @doctorkayleigh

Absurdly proud of this paper on health service #innovation. What are the factors that differentiate between good ideas that fold, and good ideas that fly?

We analysed 57 innovations from the Health Innovation Network and YES we know why!!
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bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/5/e…

We did a mixed methods survey, asking dozens of innovators about their innovation project (did it work i.e. did it provide value for its intended beneficiaries, and did it scale up or spread beyond its original pilot).
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We then asked them to rate and comment on a set of 50+ potential success factors in 9 themes (from a systematic review plus scoping interviews) in relation to their project e.g. did the project have adequate IT resources, did the project involve service users as partners etc
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Then through the MAGIC OF MATHEMATICS we worked out which factors were associated with success. And through the SHEER HARD WORK of qualitative analysis we explained why. PLUS we identified some new factors unique to failed good ideas as failed projects are seldom published.
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Soooo (drum roll....)

If you want your #innovation project to provide value to its intended beneficiaries you need to INVOLVE them, and INVOLVE the people who are delivering the service, and INVOLVE communities and carers so that it aligns to their needs. #codesign
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If you want your innovation to scale up / embed / spread, you need to garner resources - not stuff but HUMAN ones! You need organisational support, admin support, educational support, and sufficient staff with the right skills and expertise.
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AND these CORE success factors were associated with *both* the above dimensions of success: having leadership EXPERTISE, drawing on scientific EXPERTISE and respecting the distributed EXPERTISE of your clinical staff.
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Plus a few important things like being able to demonstrate, discuss and share your project’s success with other fellow innovators.

And the unique problems described by innovators that had good ideas that failed?
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(Drum roll 2...)
Working at the interface between sectors & organisations, especially if one has to do all the work and the other reaps the benefits. Plus important human factors such as staff turnover and burnout. Competition isn’t always helpful and value your people!

I would like to thank @gabereedy, Alec Knight, Sian Kitchen, Josh Brewster and everyone from @HINSouthLondon especially the innovators who took the time and effort to give us such rich data to work with.