Health and care leaders often meet demand only when it becomes visible: rising contacts, repeat presentations, longer consultations and increasing complexity. These pressures are usually described as a mismatch between need and capacity. What many of us see across general practice, community services and urgent care suggests something different. Much of what appears as demand […]
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Five leadership lessons from hosting a podcast on race inequality in the NHS workforce. By Guddi Singh
There is a particular NHS conversation that is both familiar and unfinished. People say the right things, acknowledge inequity, speak of compassion—and yet something essential does not move. The language is there, but change is not. Hosting Race and Health Matters, an eight-part series with the NHS Race and Health Observatory, left me thinking hard about […]
“Simple doesn’t mean easy”: How can psychological thinking help us to appreciate complex human ways of being. By Benna Waites and Charlie Jones
In healthcare settings, we hear messages like: if we want healthier workplaces and better relationships, we just need to be kinder, listen and collaborate more, and make people feel safe. As healthcare leaders, we might even say these kinds of things. Sounds so easy, right? We feel this messaging misses something important. Simple does not […]
The Hidden Work of Correcting Hospital Discharge. By Phil Whatling
The NHS measures discharge completion far more effectively than it measures discharge correction. What primary care sees after patients leave hospital may tell leaders more about system reliability than discharge metrics alone. Hospital discharge is one of the most common transitions in healthcare, yet it remains one of the most vulnerable. National and international organisations […]
Beyond the Algorithm: Human Factors and Workforce Impact from my AI CXR Lung Cancer Work and Beyond. By Jenna Allsup
Artificial intelligence is frequently discussed in terms of technological capability: sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, turnaround times and workflow efficiency. Yet for those of us working in radiology, its most important effects extend far beyond performance figures. Over the last three years, through two interconnected studies on AI-assisted lung cancer detection and the establishment of a local […]
Repairing the Seams: A Leadership View on the DHSC Call for Evidence on Mental Health Services in England. By Phil Whatling
Introduction The Department of Health and Social Care’s Mental health and wellbeing plan describes a system that is reactive, fragmented, and inconsistent. For clinicians working across primary and secondary care, this will feel familiar. In day-to-day practice, these difficulties rarely appear as failures within individual services. They emerge more often in the spaces between them […]
The NHS has a name for stranded costs. It still doesn’t have a strategy to deal with them. By Andi Orlowski, Nigel Edwards, Emma Knowles and Gwyn Bevan
Two of the most senior figures in NHS England have, between them, named the central problem. Sir Jim Mackey, chief executive of NHS England, says the service is “pretty much maxed out on what’s affordable.” [1] Dr Penny Dash, its chair, sets out the other half: “the biggest issue is you’ve got to take out […]
Why a research identity and community matter for global health workforce development. By Lisa Bunn and Rosi Raine
Across global health systems, developing a research‑skilled workforce has become a strategic priority, driven by growing evidence that research engagement is associated with better healthcare performance and improved patient outcomes [1]. Health systems across the world are investing heavily in research, yet many healthcare professionals remain interested in research but not actively engaged in it […]
Countering Nicotine and Tobacco Addiction through Regulation: the South-East Asia Experience. By Catharina Boehme
World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) 2026, “Unmasking the Appeal: Countering Nicotine and Tobacco Addiction,” reemphasizes regulation as critical for tobacco control and one of the most powerful tools in global public health. Since the adoption of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) in 2005, tobacco control has been reframed from […]
Cancer misinformation, social media, and the need for trusted evidence. By Vanessa Gordon-Dseagu and Lilly Matson
Cancer has been part of human history for millennia, as has misinformation about its causes and cures. From ancient theories about black bile and humours, to modern misinformation about miracle foods or biohacking (self-experimentation to optimise health), misinformation about cancer has continually evolved to reflect the concerns of its time. Today, however, technology means that […]