Australia | Israel Health Innovation Trade Mission 2019
Israel - an innovative powerhouse
It’s wild to think that what started as sharing my patient journey half a decade ago, with the hope of impacting some small positive change, has grown into my own consulting and speaking business - and is now taking me to a third continent in as many years.
Towards the end of 2019, the Australia | Israel Chamber of Commerce extended me the awesome invitation to join a delegation leading a health innovation trade mission to Israel on behalf of the NSW Department of Health and MediBank Private. I was the only health consumer advocate delegate, alongside health executives, CEO’s, and senior research and health economics experts - in recognition of my ongoing and substantive contributions to the health sector.
It was a whirlwind of innovation-envy, cultural enrichment, and learning over two weeks spent immersed in Israeli culture, touring their government and health innovation hubs, and seeing firsthand the experiences of patients interacting with health care services.
The culture of focusing on what CAN be done instead of what can’t and investment in R&D, paired with a geo-political climate that demands innovation as a necessity - makes for a powerful driving force in a pursuit for excellence in not just the practice of health, but also in the patient experience of the system and it’s supports.
There are shared challenges though, and it’s on that common ground that an ecosystem of ideation and shared learning is formed. Healthcare is as much about remedying the individual challenges that we face as well as those that span the borders of nations and cultures.
During my trip I experienced a week of character-fully poor health. But despite being half way around the world, in a country in which I didn’t speak the language, and had no previous understanding of their health system - I was supported to be able to access the care I needed with ease. In reflecting on my time in Israel, there is one fundamental thought that I keep coming back to.
And that is that effective innovation starts with recognising the value of investing genuinely and holistically in people. Investing in the people that design and innovate the system, in the people who work and provide care in that system every day, in the people whose responsibility it is to manage and administrate vast and complex systems, and most importantly in the people that rely on the system - regardless of where on a spectrum of complexity, privilege, health literacy, or accessibility they reside.
It is critical that we engage with lived experience, empower patients, the community, the sector and care providers to collaborate and remedy shared challenges. The lesson of investing in people and their capacity to drive change and ideate novel solutions will seed a positive and profoundly impactful shift in the culture of healthcare in Australia.