We know there are improvements to clinical practice and organisation that research has shown to be effective for patient assessment, treatment and more efficient operation of departments and primary care centers. We know less about the methods that are effective for enabling busy personnel to change their daily practice and organisation to adopt these. Implementation research shows local adaptation of improvement-changes are necessary, but how do we know if our adaptation is effective?

This session considers examples of programs to scale up, from pilot testing sites, improvements to a range of different services. It discusses the conditions and infrastructures necessary for effective scale up and how to assess change-readiness and capability so as to avoid wasting time attempting a change that is unlikely to be successful or sustained. The aim is to show the tools from implementation science to enable services to make changes and to enable area-wide programs such as choosing wisely initiatives, to be more successful in their spread and scale up improvement programs.

Professor John Øvretveit, is the Director of Research, Professor of Health Innovation Implementation and Evaluation at the Karolinska Institutet Sweden.

Professor Øvretveit’s research focusses on evaluation, quality and safety improvement, implementation science, health management policy and reforms, clinical coordination and integration of services.

His work is based on the belief that organisation and management can bring out the best and worst in people, and that the right organisation design is critical for effective healthcare. A theme underlying his work is how practical research can contribute both to better care for patients and to "healthy work organization".

Professor Øvretveit has pioneered action evaluation methods for giving rapid feedback for service providers and policy-makers to improve their services, and for assessing the role of context on implementation. His current research examines implementation of management and organisation improvements, and clinical care coordination for safety and lower costs. His research publications on leading value improvement explore the costs and savings of quality improvements.