Innovation Strategies in Healthcare: A Case Study of the NHS

This report provides an in-depth analysis of innovation within the National Health Service (NHS), the publicly funded healthcare system in the UK. It examines the history of innovation within the NHS, highlighting key advancements such as the use of Artificial Intelligence for stroke care, 3D heart modeling, and advanced blood tests. The report also explores the NHS's existing innovation performance and capabilities, including the NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA) initiative, which supports the spread of innovative technologies and practices. Furthermore, it discusses the evolving landscape of the healthcare industry and the technological and payment disruptions that are shaping the sector. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of innovation in enhancing healthcare facilities and services, aiming to improve patient outcomes and overall efficiency. The report also discusses the implementation of digital technologies and data protection to improve patient care.

Managing Innovation in
Business

Executive Summary
Innovation is the alteration of existing product to create something new. This helps in
filling the gap existing in the confines of market place. NHS is taken in this report to understand
the importance of innovation in healthcare system by analysing its pas innovations and the
capabilities which can be utilised in future so as to grab any opportunities for growth and
development. In this report discussions related with innovation and in NHS and the major
innovations that had taken place in past is discussed which has helped in the success of the
organisation. The first part demonstrates that NHS has an excellent innovation history with
innovations such as AI, F.A.S.T. stroke identification, 3D heart modelling and advanced blood
test. The second part illustrates that NIA is an impeccable initiative of NHS England. Further, it
showcases that the entity is building capabilities to become leader in AI and machine learning by
upcoming 5 years. The last section demonstrates that several technological and payment
disruptions are being made in the global healthcare sector to elevate the experiences driven by
the patients. Thus the overall focus of this report will be on innovation and its importance in
making the facilities and services better will be discussed so that highly efficient results can be
drawn. The main finding and results of current assignment comprises a better understanding
about the concept of innovation along with leading enhanced knowledge about the prcatises and
strategies undertaken by NHS to improve its health care services and facilities.

Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................2
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
The organisation and its innovation history.....................................................................................4
Existing innovation performance and capabilities...........................................................................6
The industry in 2020........................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

Introduction
Innovation can be defined as the alteration of the existing characteristics of the products
or services in order to generate a new offering. Thus, Innovation is can be defined as the carrying
out of new combinations and making creativity efforts by a firm which include the introduction
of new goods or services or making improvement in an existing one (Dingler and Enkel, 2016).
Innovation plays an important role in the success and sustainability of an organisation as it
allows the businesses to innovate their products and services which help them in effectively
meeting changing needs and wants of customers (Wonglimpiyarat, 2016). The purpose of this
report is to gain an insight into the ways in which innovation is facilitated and managed within a
company by practically applying the knowledge onto a company. Beside this, improvement in
level of operations and working of an orgnisation to have enhanced level of productivity and
performance along with better competitive strength are also taken as main purpose of innovation.
In this report the importance of innovation in NHS which is a publicly funded healthcare system
of UK will be examined along with the history of innovations in NHS along with its capabilities
to further bring innovation.
The organisation and its innovation history
The National Health Service (NHS) is the publicly funded healthcare system in England
and is the second largest single-payer healthcare system in the world and is primarily funded by
the government from general taxation. The NHS provides variety of healthcare services with
most of the services being provided at free of cost with exception of some specific NHS services
like eye test, dental care, prescriptions and long-term care. The majority of healthcare services
provided at NHS include primary care, in-patient care, long-term healthcare, ophthalmology and
dentistry (Bason, 2018).
The NHS Act 1946 came into effect on July 5, 1948 under which coverage for a range of
approved medical and pharmaceutical interventions are included. Through NHS effective and
high quality services were provided to general public which helped in improving the overall
healthcare system of England and Wales which is also important in their economic growth and
development. NHS has continuously developed and innovated its healthcare services so that it
could accommodate patients having range of medical and pharmaceutical requirements which
also helped it in gaining the trust of its stakeholders. Through continuous involvement of its staff

members in decision-making so that effective decisions regarding change in services could be
made helped in bringing a range of innovations in organisation. A history of innovations in the
NHS took place which helped in improving the quality of its services along with including a
range of services in company (Bertot, Estevez and Janowski, 2016). NHS makes use of Artificial
Intelligence for speeding up stroke care. NHS therefore urges people to act F.A.S.T. and thereby
dial 999 in an instance whereby the stroke strikes. The F.A.S.T. (Face, Arms, Speech, Time) is
an acronym which stands for a simple test for helping people in identifying the common
symptoms of a stroke and acting instantly upon identifying stroke by calling on emergency
number. The new Artificial Intelligence tool enables the doctors of NHS to view the patient
scans remotely upon an application and thereby make better decisions even in the wake of
corona virus outspread across the world currently (Public told ‘act FAST’ as NHS uses artificial
intelligence to speed up stroke care, 2020).
3D heart modelling for rapidly diagnosing the coronary disease as well as an advanced
blood test for cutting the time related to ruling out a heart attack by 75%. are some of the
technological innovations which are introduced within NHS to enhance the patient centred
outcomes and elevate the quality of health care services (Nearly three quarters of a million
patients set to benefit from world-leading innovations on the NHS, 2020).
In 1948, NHS was formed and for the first time free healthcare services were provide to
the people in UK which increased the trust of people. In 1951 NHS introduced a charge of one
shilling for prescription medicine and new charges for dental treatments which helped it in
arranging funds so that thy could be utilised in acquisition of new machines and equipments. In
1958, first mass vaccination programme was started by NHS for polio and diphtheria which was
offered to children below 15 years of age which helped in reducing the cases of polio and
diphtheria in UK. In 1962, Enoch Powell came up with a vision of providing every population of
125,000 with a district general hospital (Dodgson, 2018). In 1968, first heart transplant took
place with the first successful heart transplant completed in 1979 which helped in increasing the
range of services which NHS provided to the people. In 1972, CT scanning technology was
introduced in NHS which revolutionised the way in which doctors examined the patient's body.
In 1978, world's first test tube baby Louise Joy Brown was delivered in NHS which also
increased the scope of hospital along with acquiring the trust of its stakeholders. In 1988, breast
screening programme was started through the introduction of mammograms which helped in

reducing the death of people due to breast cancer. In 1994, the NHS Organ Donor register was
established which helped it in maintaining and coordinating the supply and demand of organs in
an efficient manner (Jorna, 2017). In 2008, NHS introduced vaccination for girls against cervical
cancer which made it the first organisation to give vaccination for preventing this type of cancer.
In 2015, NHS initiated a vaccination programme against meningitis B which was the first MenB
vaccine programme in the world. Thus it can be said that NHS has been taking appropriate steps
so as to introduce innovations which helped in improving its effectiveness in market making it
competitive and highly trusted by its customers.
Existing innovation performance and capabilities
The demand for healthcare services is both increasing and changing in England which
makes it important that innovations are brought in the healthcare system of UK so that highly
efficient services can be delivered to general public which can help in meeting the requirements
of patients in an efficient manner. NHS is therefore under great pressure of improving the quality
of its services so that high value for money can be provided to the customers. RAND Europe and
the University of Manchester have been given the responsibility to conduct an audit relayed with
the capabilities of innovation in NHS so that highly efficient and effective services can be
delivered to the patients (Koskela and Witell, 2016). Innovation in NHS can help it in providing
high quality services along with acquiring newest technologies so that highly affordable and
improved care can be given to patients. NHS is a fundamental contributor of the UK economy
through its efforts which can help in promoting healthy and productive workforce. NHS has
always been able to efficiently use its innovative capabilities which help it in increasing
innovation in its services so that high quality and efficient services can be delivered to the
customers (Pramanik and Azad, 2017).
NHS Innovation Accelerator abbreviated as NIA is an initiative of NHS England which
has been facilitated owing to the partnership with the 15 AHSNs of the nation. This has been
developed to ensure the delivery of the Five Year Forward View. NIA is rendering real time
practical insight upon the spread to inform national strategy. In the first year, this led to a savings
of £12 million for England’s health and care system. Until today, NIA has provided support to 36
fellows for spreading 37 innovations inclusive of medtech, workforce, models of care, digital
initiatives and so on. One of the main advantages linked to NIA innovations is the improvement

in the clinical outcomes. MyCOPD, Episcissors-60 are some of the successes linked to NIA
(How is innovation making a difference in the NHS?, 2020).
NHS has always been working progressively towards increasing innovation in its services
so that inequalities can be removed in healthcare along with improving access, strengthening
quality and closing efficiency gaps related with the services provided to the customers. NHS has
made various innovations which has helped it in improving the quality of its services so that
highly effective services can be provide to the patients. The existing innovation capabilities of
NHS has been utilised in improving the clinical outcomes, empowering the patients, opening up
access to new forms of support, earlier diagnosis and access to drug trials etc. has helped NHS in
improving the quality of services delivered to the patients. This has also helped NHS in knowing
more about their patients by making them trust its services so that they can give details regarding
their health conditions (Schoonveld, 2020).
Data protection Act 2018, is implemented in NHS so that the data related with patients
can be protected and secured which help in enhancing their trust along with improving the
quality of services delivered to the patients. Various types of digital technologies re also
involved in managing the work at NHS so that the efficiency, quality and safety of services
provided to customers can be improved. NHS is also committed towards generating its digital
maturity index which will help it in maintaining various records along with improving its
expertise in areas like analytics performance benchmarks, test beds for combined innovations,
tele-health services, healthcare services, integrated care, maintaining high privacy and security
etc. All these digital techniques has helped NHS in further improving the quality of healthcare
services that it provides to its patients (Teece and Leih, 2016).
NHS can further utilise its capabilities in an efficient manner so that it can gain the
opportunities for innovation in its services which can help it in improving its quality so that its
brand image can improve in market. There are various opportunities which can be used in NHS
like self-management of conditions by patients, use of informatics, computerisation and new
roles for healthcare professionals, providing consultation and monitoring at a distance, new
medicines and personalised treatments, new and more patient-focused care pathways,
technologies which can help in improving operational efficiency etc. All these opportunities can
be effectively used in NHS so that high quality of services can be provided to their patients along
with improving the results so achieved (Verma and Bhatia, 2016). The leaders and managers at

NHS use effective policies so that effective decision-making can take place which will improve
the way in which patients are treated. Through innovation NHS has been able to improve the
quality of its services with notable trends like in two decades the productivity growth in UK
public service health care ran at 0.8% per year according to ONS (The NHS, innovation and
productivity, 2020). Also there has been quality improvements in NHS which has increased its
productivity since 2009. NHS can thus improve continuous improvement and innovation of its
services so that high quality of services can be given to patients which can help in increasing the
efficiency of NHS in market.
NHS is building capabilities to become the world leader within machine learning as well
as artificial intelligence by the end of next 5 years. For this, NHS has asked tech innovators to
come up with proposals demonstrating the ways by virtue of which the NHS can implement
innovative solutions to free the staff time and also reduce the waiting time for patients (NHS
aims to be a world leader in artificial intelligence and machine learning within 5 years, 2020).
Thus, an analysis can be that Innovation is critical used for enabling NHS in order to achieve its
ambitions which comprises of to ramp up the pace and scale of change, and deliver better
outcomes for patients across all five domains of the NHS Outcomes Framework which
comprises of Working together for patients, Respect and dignity, Commitment to quality of care.
Compassion, Improving lives and everyone counts (De Clercq, Thongpapanl and Dimov, 2014).
Apart from this, it has been also observed that the NHS remains a major investor and wealth
creator in the UK in all major sector consists of science, technology and engineering in particular
to have enhanced level of innovation and competencies to offer better health care services.
Beside the, the main purpose of innovation witan NHS is the health care system must promotes
and support participation of the NHS in research, translating scientific developments into
benefits for patients, and contributing to economic growth by exporting innovation and expertise
internationally (Chesbrough and Brunswicker, 2014).
The industry in 2020
The spending on healthcare in UK totalled to £197.4 billion three years back which is
equivalent to about approximately £2,989 spent per person or 0.96% of the GDP. The global
health industry was worth $8.45 trillion in 2018 and is estimated to increase over $10 trillion by
2022 which means that the demand for healthcare services in the coming years will increase
tremendously. This requires that the healthcare system of UK to be highly efficient and

innovative so that high quality services and technologies can be involved so that the life
proficiency of people can be increased along with giving them high quality of services. The
healthcare industry of UK is highly advanced and is rapidly growing with having a world-leading
pool of scientific talent which has increased its innovations through rapid research and
development in this sector. Also UK is displaying strong capabilities in fields like digital health
and artificial intelligence which can help in improving its services. As the population of UK is
growing and ageing it is important that the health service in UK are improved which can help in
improving the overall health of people in UK.
There has also been an increasing trend of increasing automation in services so that the
staffing crisis can be effectively dealt with which helps in improving the quality of services
given to the patients. Also the use of AI and robotic processes have enhanced which helps in
improving the quality of services through an effective healthcare structure which improves the
way in which healthcare services are given to patients. Better connectivity is also focused upon
so that tele-care can be given to patients which can help in making the services accessible
irrespective of time and place of the patients. It is important that the healthcare services are
appropriately improved which can help in enhancing the quality of services along with making
the services available in real time so that efficient healthcare system can be established.
The global health care spending is expected to increase at a CAGR of 5% during the
period between 2019 to 23. This will be presenting opportunities to NHS and other key market
players in the field of global health care system (Deloitte's 2020 Global health care outlook,
2020). The key takeaways of Deloitte's 2020 Global health care outlook points out the
following:-
 Health care stakeholders will implement payment reform like value based payment model
which can provide assistance to the payers, providers and thereby lead to the patients
achieving favourable outcomes at the lowest possible cost.
 Technology driven patient engagement strategies will enable enhanced financial
independence for the patients in context of the health care decisions, besides improvising
the interactions with health care systems (Chen, Podolski, and Veeraraghavan, 2015).
 Government will also adopt universal health coverage and thereby introduce pricing
control over pharmaceuticals as well as range of medical technological devices.

 Population Health Management (PHM) will be leveraged for identification of the health
care needs of people and thereby providing them with effective care services accordingly
(Deloitte's 2020 Global health care outlook, 2020).
Conclusion
From the above report it can be concluded that innovation is essential for health care
industry as it ensures the augmentation of quality of experience and services received by the
patients. On the basis of first section, it can be said that NHS has excellent innovation history
with innovations like AI, F.A.S.T. stroke identification, 3D heart modelling and advanced blood
test to reduce time by 75%. The next section leads to the inference that NHS Innovation
Accelerator (NIA) is an initiative taken by NHS England to foster innovation. The last section
showcases that many payment and technological advancements will be made in healthcare sector
with the passage of time, opening up opportunities for organisations such as NHS.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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Bertot, J., Estevez, E. and Janowski, T., 2016. Universal and contextualized public services:
Digital public service innovation framework.
Chen, Y., Podolski, E.J. and Veeraraghavan, M., 2015. Does managerial ability facilitate
corporate innovative success?. Journal of empirical finance, 34, pp.313-326.
Chesbrough, H. and Brunswicker, S., 2014. A fad or a phenomenon?: The adoption of open
innovation practices in large firms. Research-Technology Management, 57(2), pp.16-25.
De Clercq, D., Thongpapanl, N. and Dimov, D., 2014. Contextual ambidexterity in SMEs: the
roles of internal and external rivalry. Small Business Economics, 42(1), pp.191-205.
Dingler, A. and Enkel, E., 2016. Socialization and innovation: Insights from collaboration across
industry boundaries. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 109, pp.50-60.
Dodgson, M., 2018. Technological collaboration in industry: strategy, policy and
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Jorna, R. ed., 2017. Sustainable innovation: The organisational, human and knowledge
dimension. Routledge.
Koskela-Huotari, K., Edvardsson, B., Jonas, J.M., Sörhammar, D. and Witell, L., 2016.
Innovation in service ecosystems—Breaking, making, and maintaining institutionalized
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Pramanik, M.I., Lau, R.Y., Demirkan, H. and Azad, M.A.K., 2017. Smart health: Big data
enabled health paradigm within smart cities. Expert Systems with Applications, 87,
pp.370-383.
Schoonveld, E., 2020. The price of global health: drug pricing strategies to balance patient
access and the funding of innovation. Routledge.
Teece, D. and Leih, S., 2016. Uncertainty, innovation, and dynamic capabilities: An
introduction. California Management Review, 58(4), pp.5-12.
Verma, A. and Bhatia, S., 2016. A Policy Framework for Health Systems to Promote Triple Aim
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Wonglimpiyarat, J., 2016. The innovation incubator, university business incubator and
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Online
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How is innovation making a difference in the NHS?. 2020. [Online]. Available Through:
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NHS aims to be a world leader in artificial intelligence and machine learning within 5 years.
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