Language As A Catalyst for Innovation
The Government’s 10 Year Health Plan – its strategy for creating an NHS fit for the future - now expected in late June or early July.
We know the Government intends to shift the NHS away from a model geared towards late diagnosis and treatment, to a model where more services are delivered in local communities. The goal is to harness the power of technologies like AI to transform the speed and accuracy of diagnostic services, saving potentially thousands of lives. And also to embed a greater focus on prevention throughout the entire healthcare system and supporting services.
In the current landscape of NHS transformation, innovation is a key part of the solution that echoes through white papers, strategy documents, and leadership forums. Yet despite ambitious plans and substantial investment, many NHS innovation initiatives struggle to gain traction and, having gained traction, scale successfully across the ecosystem.
One overlooked factor in this innovation gap may be the language we use to discuss, document, analyse and incentivise innovation.
Passive Language Can Undermine Innovation in the NHS
Passive language in communications about the NHS can shift focus away from the people doing the work. Consider:
Digital solutions will be deployed across primary care
New care pathways have been designed to improve patient flow
Reforms will put patients first, harness technology to support staff and help the NHS to do things more efficiently
Why can passive language be problematic?
While passive language may seem neutral or objective, it can significantly impact how challenges are understood and addressed within the healthcare system. It can create these problems:
1. Distancing People From the Innovation Process - passive constructions like "it has been decided that a new approach will be tested" psychologically separate people from the innovation process, positioning them as recipients rather than co-creators of change. or consider: surgical hubs, new technology and innovative ways of working will help tackle waiting lists
2. Obscuring the Reality of Implementation Challenges - innovation in the NHS rarely fails at the ideas stage - it fails during implementation and scaling. Passive language like "barriers were encountered" masks the specific challenges faced by real people trying to make change happen. This opacity makes it difficult to learn from failures and adapt approaches accordingly.
3. Creating a False Separation Between Policy and Practice - passive language artificially separates policy creation from practical implementation. Phrases like "new protocols have been developed" or "minimum waiting times have been established" suggest policies emerge, ready to be executed, rather than acknowledging they are created by specific individuals with particular perspectives and priorities.
Language-Led Innovation As Part of the Solution
If we want the NHS to become truly innovative and adaptable, we must recognise that language is not merely descriptive - it's constructive. It shapes how people perceive their role in change and their capacity to influence systems.
As the research on complex adaptive systems demonstrates, sustainable innovation requires acknowledging that systems change is "a journey which can require a radical change in people's attitudes as well as in the ways people work" (Feltgen, 2024). By consciously shifting from passive to active language patterns when we’re thinking about innovation in the NHS, we can unlock the human agency that drives genuine innovation and create the conditions for lasting transformation in healthcare delivery.
By changing how we talk about innovation, we begin to change how we do innovation - and ultimately, how we transform the NHS itself.