Creativity, Innovation, and Change

According to West (2002), creativity is distinct from innovation as it encompasses the processes leading to the generation of new ideas to create value for individuals, organisations and the health sector. The term innovation is used to describe the use of these new ideas, products or methods where they have not been used before (Eurostat Community Innovation Survey (CIS) 2015). Innovation intentionally introduces ideas, processes, products or procedures which are new to that job, work team or organisation, and which are designed to benefit the job, the work team or the organisation. For those working in healthcare there is pressure to be innovative and ‘do more with less’. Leadership of real creativity and innovation needs to be developed throughout healthcare organisations to rise above and beyond this challenge. The way in which people think about innovation has radically changed over the last two decades with the advent of open sharing, user customisation and the idea that service users or patients are often the best placed people to proactively assist in revising products and processes. These service users are now becoming more and more active in engaging with the health services to meet their needs. This chapter explores how creativity and innovation can be developed and sustained through leadership, teamwork and collaboration in order to achieve a higher performing health service