NHS chief executive Sir David Nicholson has urged healthcare workers to make innovation a priority, stressing that it should become "everybody's job" from top to bottom in the NHS.

"We should bring about a major shift in culture within the NHS, and develop our people by hardwiring innovation into training and education for managers and clinicians," Mr Nicholson said as the government unveiled a support package designed to promote innovation in healthcare. "Put simply, we must make innovation a priority."

Under government plans, clinical commissioning groups in the new NHS will be put under a duty to seek out and adopt best practice and promote innovation. NHS training and education programs will also be introduced to promote the new ethos that Mr Nicholson hopes will help the NHS meet its planned £20 billion efficiency savings.

The new plans, which were first outlined by David Cameron on Monday, include a range of proposals and funding packages designed to support innovation in medical research and health services.

Alongside plans to open up access to public data sets including health data on prescribing, one of the proposals announced was a NICE compliance regime designed to ensure the treatment regimes it recommends are adopted locally. Many local health authorities opt not to fund some NICE-recommended drugs because of their high costs.

The government has not yet given details on its plan for the compliance regime, but the work will be overseen by the new NHS Commissioning Board.

Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry chief executive Stephen Whitehead said: "The proposals outlined by government will contribute towards patients receiving better treatments, more quickly and build the UK's attractiveness as a leading hub for medical and health research."