Deconstructing the Toolkit: Creativity and Risk in the NHS Workforce

Abstract

Deconstructing the Toolkit explores the current desire for toolkits that promise failsafe structures to facilitate creative success. The paper examines this cultural phenomenon within the context of the risk-averse workplace-with particular focus on the NHS. The writers draw on Derrida and deconstructionism to reflect upon the principles of creativity and the possibilities for being creative within the workplace. Through reference to The Extra Mile project facilitated by Open Art, the paper examines the importance of engaging with an aesthetic of creativity and embracing a more holistic approach to the problems and potential of the creative process.

Medics as a Channel for Worksite Health Promotion in Remote Global Locations

“…This study supports the findings of previous studies that have successfully used tool kits to improve the range and quality of services delivered by medical professionals. [4][5][6][7] The positive reaction from medics also suggests that concerns about tool kits stifling creativity 7 may be unfounded in this context. The tool kits described in this study complement existing workplace health promotion tool kits that are designed for the majority of employees in central locations.…”

“…[4][5][6] Although many such tool kits have shown positive and scalable results, tool kits have also been criticized for stifling creativity by forcing medical professionals to develop programs within a standard framework. 7 Tool kits currently available for workplace health promotion include both commercial and free tool kits designed to help employers promote physical activity, 8 nutrition, 9 and mental health. 10 However, few of these tool kits have been formally evaluated in the literature, and most focus on the needs of employees in central locations in developed countries.…”

Safeguarding adults within institutional settings: a narrative overview of the literature focused on the care of people with mental ill-health and learning difficulties

“…Williams and Keating (2000), in their theoretical paper, identify power asymmetry between service provider and service user, suggesting that the relationship is inherently unequal and potentially abusive in itself. Moreover, the risk-averse environment within which many of our statutory services operate has led to an ongoing need to balance empowerment against the reduction of risk (Allen and Brodzinski, 2009), with the tendency to risk-aversion identified in the recent review of institutional care in England (NHSC, 2023).…”

A Giacometti portrait, postmodern emergence, and creativity

“…There is a link with complexity theory here too, where, according to Von Allen and Deborah Brodzinski (2009: 314), unpredictability “open[s] up a liminal space of not-knowing.” The surprise that emerges from this unpredictability and unknowing has been associated with creativity also (McDaniel et al, 2003: 272–273). Indeed, here are some relationships that the postmodern emergence researcher may want to take note of: the value of placing oneself in a place of unknowing, betwixt and between, to seek something new and valuable, or to “generate” it.…”