Do the innovation strategies of English NHS trusts and regulators align with the perception of innovation held by NHS staff?

This thesis explores employee perceptions of the innovativeness of NHS Trusts in England. Misalignment between a strategic direction to innovate and the employee’s perceptions can create waste in terms of time, effort and resources and ultimately lead to a failure to deliver the strategic direction, something the NHS can ill afford. This subject was investigated using both primary and secondary sources. The primary data was collected using a seven-point Likert Survey with two open questions. Secondary data was collected through the use of Freedom of Information requests and searches of every English NHS Trust website. The findings show that the perception of the employees in English NHS Trusts was one of habituality, which misaligns to the strategic direction towards innovation set by regulators and arms length bodies and a majority of Trusts. I also found that factors identified in literature and the qualitative data as barriers can also be enablers. For example, the role of the manager is seen as one that either disables innovation or can enable innovation. The biggest mediator, according to the qualitative responses to the open questions, is the internal context. To make symbolic actions substantive, Trusts need to provide appropriate resources, budgets, governance structures and cultures that are supportive of innovation. While part of the internal context, the manager alone was identified as a significant factor in whether an organisation is perceived to be innovative or not.