Senior leaders from ICBs across the country joined innovators at the SBRI Healthcare Innovation Conference 2024 at the Royal College of Physicians on 15 July 2024. Here’s their advice for innovators.
Understand the priorities of ICBs
Understanding the key priorities of each ICB will make it easier to know if your innovation is a good fit and avoid wasting time if now isn’t the right time for your innovation to be adopted.
Priorities can be found on an ICB’s website or through speaking to the Health Innovation Network (HIN).
Net Zero is now at the heart of innovation; using Greener NHS resources, think about the environmental impact of your innovation and build mitigating strategies into your value proposition.
Understand ICB constraints
ICBs will be under varying degrees of financial pressure and constrained by operational challenges and organisational complexity. Policy changes and other external factors will also play a role.
Make sure you consider these constraints and think about how your innovation can not only improve patient outcomes but also workforce experience. Be clear about how your solution will integrate into existing NHS pathways and have clear metrics to hand throughout conversations with commissioners.
Understand the local community and be part of it
Make sure you co-create products with the local communities that come under the ICB and thoroughly consider health inequalities.
It’s important to consider digital exclusion and digital poverty, either by helping upskill communities and working with partners to provide digital tools, or by ensuring non-technology options are available, being digital first but not digital only.
Speaking to colleagues in the social care sector who have day to day experience of working in the community can be a good place to start. It’s important to go to where the local population is, whether that’s libraries, community centres or sports facilities to get input and feedback on your innovation.
When looking for local champions don’t forget nurses, one of the biggest workforces, as well as clinicians. Also think about getting in touch with and presenting at ICB professional network meetings and forums.
Think about all aspects of the health and social care system and how your innovation could fit into prevention and education pathways, not just clinical.
It can also help to understand what other organisations and networks there are within the ICB area that share your goals and what you can learn from them. For instance, NHS North East London ICB connected with Re:London, a local group supporting a circular economy, to get ideas for their net zero work.
Above all be authentic and aligned
Use the Health Innovation Networks to really get to know the ICBs. ICBs often won’t have capacity to keep up to date with all aspects of research and innovation so be proactive in approaching them to help explain the opportunities and challenges – warts and all - of your work and how you think you can work together to meet ICB needs and benefit their patients.