Innovation in the Public Sector

This document is a report produced by the PUBLIN research project. PUBLIN is part of the Programme for research, technological development and demonstration on "Improving the human research potential and the socioeconomic knowledge base,1998-2002" under the EU 5th Framework Programme. For more information, see www.step.no/publin/. SUMMARY The present case study focuses on the implementation of process innovation within the context of mental health care. The study aims to contribute to theory development about innovation in health care. The study is part of Publin, a European research effort into innovation in the public sector. The study describes the implementation of clinical pathways in a psychiatric hospital in Maastricht (The Netherlands). This process innovation has been linked with a flow-oriented organizational redesign. A systems model has been used to analyze the innovation process. Special attention has been paid to crucial interfaces within the local innovation system. These interfaces are allocated along two basic dimensions of the systems model: (1) interfaces between functions in the health care value chain, (2) and the interfaces between the different system levels. The study can be regarded as a blend of case study, survey, participant observation and action research. The results of the study underline, that innovation in health care implies an intensive organization development effort. The proposed systems model appears to be an adequate toolkit for understanding the innovation process and the interactions and interdependencies in the innovation system.