ABSTRACT
Change management, as a subject, is all encompassing; core to business teaching, yet absent from medical curricula. It covers everything from how to alter individual personal traits through to how to alter the direction of huge conglomerates. The literature surrounding change management is vast. A key source of resistance for change in healthcare is ‘investment lock-in’; a significant portion of the National Health Service (NHS) budget is already allocated for specific services. Behavioural economics is the area of economics that overlaps with psychology. It seeks to explain the seemingly irrational behaviour of individuals who fail to act in ways that economic models might otherwise predict. The Mayo’ has repeatedly undergone change: through rapid expansion and moves into community-based care, internet-based information and resource development. The application of the principles of behavioural economics to healthcare is at an early stage in its development.
