Summary
Lord Rose, formerly of Marks & Spencer, was commissioned by the Secretary of State for Health to review leadership in the NHS. This controversial and independent report covers how to attract and develop capable leaders, whether from inside or outside of the NHS. It discusses how leadership in hospital trusts and CCGs can help deliver the NHS Five Year Forward View.
“The level and pace of change in the NHS remains unsustainably high: this places significant, often competing demands on all levels of its leadership and management. The administrative, bureaucratic and regulatory burden is fast becoming insupportable”. (p.9)
The report offers 19 recommendations relating to four areas: (i) training, (ii) performance management, (iii) bureaucracy and (iv) management support.
Reference
Pym, H. (2015). NHS management: the retailer’s view. London: BBC Health News, July 16th 2015.
This relates to:
Reference
Lord Rose (2015). Better leadership for tomorrow: NHS leadership review. London: Department of Health [Independent report], [June 2015] July 16th 2015.
“The NHS, as a whole, lacks a clear, consistent, view of what ‘good’ or ‘best’ leadership look like. In 2013, Sir Robert Francis QC set out in his public inquiry report some of the criteria for what good leadership in healthcare might be, including visibility, listening, understanding, cross-boundary thinking, challenging, probity, openness and courage”. (p.20).
Note: There is a selected list of further recent influential leadership models and approaches.
Professional Standards Authority: Re-Thinking Regulation
The “Rethinking regulation” report agrees that regulation is not fit for purpose currently and offers recommendations for helping it to support changes proposed for health and care. The Professional Standards Authority oversees the UK’s nine health and care professional regulatory bodies. Recommendations involve deregulation, less regulation and better regulation. Specific recommendations for re-shaping how regulation works include:
- Shared objectives for system and professional regulators, because professional regulation does not occur in a vacuum.
- Transparent benchmarking to set standards.
- Re-building trust (between professionals, the public and regulators).
- Reducing the scope of regulation, to focus on what works.
- Better risk assessment model(s).
- Giving more responsibility to the people who manage and deliver care.
Reference
Rethinking regulation. London: Professional Standards Authority, August 5th 2015.
“A proliferation of regulatory organisations inevitably impedes the pace of change and improvement across the sector. It also embeds operational inefficiency and unnecessary expense… ”. (p.4).
Sustainability and Transformation Leaders
NHS England has announced the health and care leaders responsible for working on Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs) in 44 local STP footprints. These 44 STP footprints are the geographic areas in which the leaders will develop their integrated blueprints for improving health, care and finances over the next five years, in order to deliver priorities within the NHS Five Year Forward View.
Reference
Sustainability and Transformation leaders confirmed. London: NHS England, March 30th 2016.