There’s not enough innovation and change in general practice. Dragged forward, standing still or going backwards is more the way.
Often it doesn’t happen because of fear of change, lack of time, procrastination or not knowing how. That encourages stagnation, demotivation and a fear of change may take hold. Yet it’s not difficult to do.
Don’t change for the sake of it.
Establish what needs to be improved. What are the problem areas? Where are the opportunities? Support decisions with evidence from KPIs, patient feedback, surveys and other information.
Encourage innovation.
Allow space and time for innovative ideas by giving people time out to explore and get the right people together in ‘creative groups’. You might want to get patients involved or follow and improve the ideas of others.
Don’t kill innovation before it’s started.
Don’t be frightened to try things, ideas don’t have to be perfect, more will be learned if you embrace ‘try it and see’. Evolution is often preferable to revolution so don’t think changes have to be big. Encourage small improvement, the important thing is constant progression and development, and making innovation and change a part of the culture.
So, if you haven’t started yet, take a small step…forwards.
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