Why is it so hard to copy international best practice?

Why is it so hard to copy international best practice? Blog by Nigel Edwards (Chief Executive of the Nuffield Trust) 12 May 2016

• This blog reflects on the complex challenges and opportunities that often arise when replicating international good practice where it has frequently proved rather more difficult to replicate the models than might have been hoped, 
• Points raised include:
• Failure of an intervention may not be the context but implementation. 
• The NHS has historically assumed that it can implement changes in half the time and with a quarter of the resource used elsewhere. 
• The trick to adopting models is to adapt them to the local context, it is important to be able to identify the underlying design principles that are the active ingredients that make the difference. Use of terms such as 'care navigator' and 'multi-disciplinary teams' that conceal a vast range of different definitions, philosophies and methodologies. 
• Individuals matter; their contribution can be pivotal and ignoring this can mean that the difficulty of the task may be underestimated. 
• Models rely on the boring, repetitive and unglamorous work of developing a reliable operating model and making sure it runs reliably 24/7.
• See also EU models of care and the presentations given at the Adapting International Care Models meeting 12 May 2016