Collaborative Governance for Innovation in the National Health Service: Early Reflections on the Development of Academic Health Science Networks

摘要

The National Health Service (NHS) in England, with more than 1 million employees, is one of the largest organizations, public or private sector, in the world. Given that the article "Collaborative Innovation: A Viable Alternative to Market Competition and Organizational Entrepreneurship?" by Jean Hartley, Eva Sorensen, and Jacob Torfing confirms that "large organizations are better at innovation," it should also be highly innovative. Reading the article, it is easy to see within the NHS in England strong elements of the first two of the organizational and leadership approaches to innovation discussed. New Public Management is evident in a strong tendency toward "elaborate systems of performance management," which focus on measures, targets, indicators, and benchmarks. It is also evident in the creation and role of Foundation Trusts. Those Trusts are engaged in a form of public sector competition that, in some cases, has been shown to discourage sharing and organizational learning. This organizational/leadership construct is very effective in the right context, but it does not always result in an effective means of making the NHS more innovative.