Introducing Appreciating Health and Care

Appreciating Health and Care – a practical Appreciative inquiry resource for the Health and Social Care Sector – will be published in April this year

March 2019 saw us at the World Appreciative Inquiry conference in Nice – a high point was a group presentation on the NHS Learning from Excellence initiative, which received a standing ovation. Alongside this keynote event were several small workshops on other NHS and social care projects within the NHS.

In the inevitable interactions between workshops, a conversation took place between Appreciating People and West Midlands Academic Health Science Network – now called Health Innovation West Midlands. WMAHSN had played a key role in supporting Learning from Excellence and the provision of AI training workshops in health trusts and care homes. It was clear that significant Appreciative Inquiry projects and practice were emerging, and it was important to collect the work, to share learning and promote the approach.

In north west England a similar AI training initiative had developed with Aqua – another NHS regional organisation. This programme grew out of Aqua integrating AI into safety training.

The result has been an effective collaboration between the three organisations and a rich response from health and social care practitioners across the UK. With all the pressures in the NHS and social care sector – alongside a pandemic – it is amazing contributors found the time to provide case studies. It is a testament to the power and influence of Appreciative Inquiry

The book is in seven parts, covering an introduction to Appreciative Inquiry, its philosophy, principles and tools and information on the emerging AI movement in health and care, alongside an ‘AI in action’ section, including case studies and examples of practice, extra resources and useful glossary. We’ll pick up more information on case study themes in a future blog. And, as we started to read examples and share stories, there were so many examples of AI in practice that we decided to develop a second eBook on AI in practice.

In April 2024, after five years of work, identification of funding, much work by many people (and while going through a pandemic) Appreciating Health and Care will be published in print and eBook format. It’s very satisfying to see the fruit of those early conversations.

If you’d like more information, contact either tim@appreciatingpeople.co.uk or suzanne@appreciatingpeople.co.uk.