When it comes to figuring out how to change how we do things in health and social care, there is still the idea in some quarters that this process involves a straight line. In other words, that change follow a simple pattern of designing, testing, and then adopting and spreading new technologies, or ways of organising and delivering care. But in the real world, the process is often more messy, with information from each step ‘forward’ feeding back to earlier steps but also missteps while the system embraces an innovation leading to something completely new. And sometimes an idea just takes off! In health and social care, we broadly use the words ‘research’ to describe the discovery of new things or knowledge generation and ‘innovation’ to talk about taking research discoveries and developing useful products or processes out of them. In the Dorset Innovation Hub, the different partners, like ARC Wessex, work with each other in this research and innovation loop.

The idea of a research and innovation loop is not new. As something recognisable to modern eyes, we can trace its inception to the Bell Labs, which, in the United States, generated and applied ideas at large scale from the end of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th. Its innovations, spanning theories, technologies, and international use, laid the basis of many of our modern economies.

An important lesson from this long history is that different types of people and teams are needed at different stages of the research and innovation loop. First, there are scientists who need the freedom to think about new ideas without expectations of them being used. Then, applied researchers who, like inventors, use those new ideas to develop a useful process or technology and test them out at a small scale. And finally, innovators who, like engineers, introduce new methods, ideas and or products in the real world to figure out how to make them work for as many people as possible. Importantly, these three groups of people need to work with managers skilled in innovation who shepherd the process and ensure that feedback from the different stages are shared. That feedback is important both for the project at hand and future idea generation.

ARC Wessex fits into this loop by:

• its community of researchers listening to the needs of the health and care system and designing research in response;
• undertaking applied health and care research to generate evidence that can directly supports decision-making about new ways of working; and
• developing resources, tools, and guidance to support health and care organisations make the best use of findings from research and consider how to implement in them in practice.

We do this by bringing together local providers of NHS services, local providers of care services, NHS commissioners, local authorities, universities, private companies, and voluntary and charity organisations. The input from all these parties informs our research portfolio that addresses the specific health or care issues of our region, including Dorset.

In addition, our core management team works to make it more likely that research findings are taken up into practice in several ways. First, our implementation team helps researchers understand that they need to collect evidence about how an innovation is used by people and the effects of factors like different data management systems and building layouts. Second, our education and career development team ensure our early career researchers are prepared to work with system partners and to become decision-makers who are aware of, and put into practice, a mix of applied research and implementation practices. Third, our communication team helps make messages about research and innovation clear for as many people as possible. Fourth, our patient and public involvement team fosters public engagement and enhancing the outreach and impact of research activities and results at different levels.

So, the main take-away is that new ways of working don’t follow a simple, predictable path. Evidence needs help to get somewhere and the Dorset Innovation Hub and its partners like ARC Wessex are a vehicle to support the research and innovation loop which, ultimately, is all about improving patient outcomes, staff satisfaction and supporting economic growth.

Alison Richardson – Director NIHR ARC Wessex

David Kryl – Director of Insight Wessex AHSN