Health Innovation Network Involvement Strategy 2022-2025

We want to work in partnership with people in south London to achieve our mission of speeding up the best of health and care together.

We believe that, by sharing their insights and knowledge, people with lived experience of health and social care services can help us to improve and innovate health and social care.

The Health Innovation Network (HIN) has a history of involvement and co-design activity and we want to build on this and create a more embedded and consistent approach.

This strategy, and the plan that will deliver it, has been co-developed with people with lived experience and HIN colleagues, other partners and stakeholders.

Introduction

This strategy represents a reset in our thinking and a moment of renewed effort to co-produce health innovation.

Our experiences of the last two years, and recent conversations with people with lived experience of health and care, have given us a new perspective. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed the importance of innovation and improvement, including digital experience.

Since the HIN formed in 2013, our project teams have tried lots of great ways of involving people in our work and intend to build on this learning and energy.

It is of prime importance that our work improves the health and care outcomes for the diverse populations within south London and reduces inequalities. We want this belief in equality, diversity and inclusion to be enshrined in our approach to involvement.

Development of this strategy has involved an open and honest look at both the psychological and practical barriers to involving people and co-production within the HIN.

We are fortunate in that we have an experienced team, people throughout the organisation with knowhow, a committed leadership, and an openness to learning and trying new approaches.

We want to build on our local connections and encourage more organisations and people to join us in our work.

Involvement: why does it matter to the Health Innovation Network?

Involvement is a critical factor in enabling our organisational priorities. Through effective involvement, we can:

• Ensure the voice of people who live and work in south London is embedded in the selection of national innovation priority programmes, and their local translation.
• Prioritise the outcomes that matter to people to be integral to our health and care change programmes.
• Begin with the needs of people who use services as the starting point for the adoption of innovations. 
• Include the personal experiences of people and communities in evaluating the effectiveness of innovations in real-world settings

Development

We have brought together over 65 people from across south London: people with lived experience of health and care, HIN colleagues, partners and other stakeholders to explore:

• Why involvement and partnership with patients and the public is integral to the HIN and what we need to do to strengthen this.

• How we can cultivate meaningful involvement and partnership with patients and the public.

• How we can move to a more structured approach, with involvement and co-development embedded in our work.

• What would a successful community of people supporting involvement look like.

• How we can strengthen involvement in the decisions we make as an organisation.

Our strategy

Who

Alongside Health Innovation Network staff, our strategy is also relevant to our partners and the wider health and care ecosystem, including:

• People who live or work in south London
• Patient groups and Community and Voluntary Sector
• HIN member organisations, including health and care organisations across south London, academia, local government and industry partners
• Innovators; organisations and individuals helping health and care to advance and improve
• National and other stakeholder organisations, including the AHSN Network
• Funding bodies

Why (our Involvement Values)

Our Involvement Values closely align to the values which guide the Health Innovation Network’s mission:

• Brave: We encourage and support our colleagues to be open and willing to change as a result of involving people
• Kind: We care about our communities and want people to have a positive experience when they work with us.
• Together: Our core belief is that we can close the health inequalities gap by including diverse communities in the design and development of innovations.
• Different: We find strength in our differences and are committed to involving people with a multitude of perspectives so that we can identify areas to improve and try new things.
• Open: We’re open about what we do, and we continuously share what we learn with those who have been involved and helped us to make a difference.

What (our Involvement Principles)

1. Ensure that involving people is embedded in all our work.
2. Embed our belief in equality, diversity, and inclusion in our approach to involving people.  
3. Extend the profile and influence of people’s voices in the decisions we make as an organisation.
4. Build on our local connections and inspire more organisations and people to partner with us in our work. 
5. Demonstrate where involving people has made a positive difference.

Involvement at the Health Innovation Network

At the HIN, we seek to understand, design and improve the experience of health and care for staff, service users and their families. This requires a deeper understanding of people’s experiences in order to improve things. Some examples of this include:

---

Find out more about our Involvement Strategy in the video below:

---

---

Need support with involving people or communities in your health and care project? Get in touch with the team.

---

To sign up for our Partners with People newsletter and hear more about involvement opportunities at the HIN, please contact Sophie Lowry, Implementation and Involvement Manager.