Title Text Here

SOCIAL INNOVATION SOCIAL INNOVATION

FOR BETTER HEALTH AND WELLBEING FOR BETTER HEALTH AND WELLBEING

IN THE EUIN THE EU

A Young Gasteiner Perspective

EHFG, 5-8 October, 2011

Mariana Dyakova, MD, MPH, PhDNIHR Clinical Lecturer in public health

Division of Health Sciences, Warwick Medical School

Start on a journey…

DefinitionFirst of all, as a real YG I looked for a simple definition…

“Social innovation refers to new ideas that work

in meeting social goals.”

•Very wide boundaries•Different from improvement / creativity / invention•Different from business / industry innovation (for profit)•It’s all around us…

however – very restricted knowledge & research•Just making its way onto the big funding agenda

The present picture in health…Then, as a typical researcher, I did some more investigation into

why Social Innovation is coming onto the EU health agenda…

Demand for health & social services↑↑ → Costs of health care ↑ ↑– Demographic trends (rising life expectancy & aging population)– Epidemiologic transition (chronic diseases & lifestyle challenges - LTC)– Technologies (dominant in innovations)– Public expectations

Restricted budgets (cost cutting); Workforce reduction; Inequalities still

Diversity & mobility; Climate change

Concept of Wellbeing (mismatch between growing GDP and real welfare)

Life course approach; Disease prevention & Health promotion; Attempts to integrate health and social services; Improving quality and safety; Patient-centered care; Disease management; Increasing efficiency; building information systems etc

Complex Multidimensional

Medically

focused

Patchy

Multidisciplinary

Technology/science

focused

Disease focused

Translation & implementation?

Needs ↔ solutions/provision

A GAP

Why Social Innovation?!

• Health, education and social care - key growth sectors of the 21st century economy (around 20-30% of GDP and more...)

• All have mixed provision (public, private, 3rd sector), strongly shaped by public policy

• The required models of innovation are very different to those that worked well in industry, technology etc 

The emerging partnership between individual, social networks and medical services implies some radical changes to how health is organized.

Then, again, as a typical YG

I had some inconvenient questions

How come in the EU…

…we managed to unite against crime, but not against diseases?

…we’ve introduced a common currency, but not a common health strategy?

…we ensure the protection of our borders, but not of our bodies?

…gaining wealth is still ahead of gaining health?!

And finally, as a typical researcher, I did a small “study”,

to try to answer some of the queries I had about ageing...

• Sample of 2 people: my mother & myself

• Methodology – qualitative

One question:Describe briefly your ideal old age state

What about aging?

Results My mother

1.Physical aspect:

no physical suffering; mentally sound; aesthetically good looking

2. Mental aspect:

Have a perspective/purpose - feeling responsible and needed (through creativity, mentoring, relationships etc)

Not being lonely or living a monotonous life

Seeing your loved ones well and prosperous

Feeling satisfied with your past life

Having the sense of home & safety

Myself•Active & self-sufficient •Be able to contribute and help (e.g. to children)•Enjoy everyday life•No suffering/pain

Similar!

My study’s conclusions

• Health is a prerequisite not a target for the elderly, just like for the young people

• Health is multifaceted – physical, mental, social… and more

• We can reconcile ourselves with “poor health” under certain conditions …and can feel well and happy!

• The importance of the concept of Wellbeing - shaped not only by pure individual health, but by many other factors

• We don’t value something until we lose it

The general messages

• Enhance user involvement:– Through research to understand needs, perceptions and expectations

(WEMWBS)

– Through active participation of different social groups, NGOs, local communities etc

• Look for new resources / different approaches to existing resources / different interrelations between resources– Through focused research (funding in “high risk” R&D)

– Through user involvement & multidisciplinary collaboration etc

• Pushing forward innovations which are not (only) profit related, but user/society driven – effective (& cost-saving!)– Through fighting against vested interests

– Through building working alliances (Public - Health - Social) etc

Steve Jobs (1955 – 2011)

Technical innovator…and social innovator

“If you live each day as if it was your last, some day you’ll most certainly be right.”

References • Mulgan, G. (2006) Social Innovation: what it is, why it matters, how it

can be accelerated, London: NESTA.• Tennant R, et al. (2007) The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being

Scale (WEMWBS): development and UK validation. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 5:63.

• Huppert FA, Wittington JE. (2004) Positive mental health in individuals and populations. In The Science of Well-being Edited by: Huppert FA, Baylis N. Keverne, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

• Health services research Europe. (2011) Health services research: helping tackle Europe’s health care challenges. Policy brief: http://www.healthservicesresearch.eu/hsr_database/health_services_research_helping_tackle_europes_health_care_challenges/179