Partha Kar: “Family must look after family” So goes an old African proverb. Yet somehow the NHS has always struggled with the basic concept of that. Caught in the cocktail of shrinking public funds, greater desire for efficiency, increased demand from the public as well as unrealistic expectations set by politicians, the NHS has tried […]
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‘Magical Meander’: Breaking bad news
You might think as a doctor I was used to breaking bad news. Yet it seems that there are areas that have the ability to still challenge me. Weak spots in the skill set I have slowly build up from many years of supporting patients and families come to terms with life altering news. These […]
Creating tomorrow today: seven simple rules for leaders. Blog five: Support people to build their agency at every level of the system by Helen Bevan and Göran Henriks
We have created a set of “seven simple rules” for leaders who want to create tomorrow today, based on our collective learning over seven decades as leaders and internal change agents in the health and care systems in England and Sweden and the work we have done with leaders in health and care in many […]
Interviews: Asking the wrong questions by Roger Kline
The NHS is awash with Action Plans to create more diverse recruitment and career progression and melt the snowy white peaks of the NHS which still symbolise the failure of the NHS to tackle race discrimination. Post Gorge Floyd, such efforts increased but I suggest progress will be glacial unless employers (and unions) pay more […]
Workforce race discrimination adversely impacts patient care too by Roger Kline
There is, finally, a growing awareness of the impact of race discrimination on Black and Minority Ethnic patients. Not so well known is the impact of workforce race discrimination on patient care and safety. For leaders determined to improve the quality and safety of patient care, tackling workplace race discrimination is not an optional extra. We […]
In tackling health inequalities, we must be patient centric and system focused by Aideen Dunne
As a fitness instructor in a gym in Ireland I was often frustrated at the lack of progress many of my clients achieved, despite giving them the skills, knowledge and equipment they needed to achieve their goals. Now as a Public Health Registrar, I know that the barriers to their success were not simply a […]
Medicine must choose its leaders fairly by Shannon Ruzycki
The lack of diversity among medical leadership gap is well-described. Men, white physicians, and white men physicians are overrepresented in leadership, academic, and decision-making roles relative to their proportion in medicine. This is best highlighted in specialties that are predominantly women, like pediatrics and obstetrics, where most of leaders are still men. This gap is […]
From a place of hope by Nagina Khan
I am absolutely delighted to write this blog for International Women’s Day 2022. As a woman in medical education and medical research, my own journey has been embedded in the NHS and academic departments which work to inform health and policy globally. I want to start by highlighting a quote by Secretary-General of the United […]
Women Speakers in Healthcare: Still Speaking Up for Balanced Gender Representation by Rose Penfold
Who are Women Speakers in Healthcare? Women Speakers in Healthcare (WSH) is a grassroots database organisation, co-founded by five NHS women in 2019. We were brought together by a shared frustration that women remain underrepresented on panels and as speakers at healthcare conferences and events, despite comprising the majority of the health and social care […]
‘I am woman, hear me roar’ by Emma Hadley
I have been very fortunate to grow up in a world surrounded by incredible women. Whether it has been family members, friends, through my education, or my working world, I have never been short of women role-models to provide tangible guidance, inspiration and hope for my own future. As a child, these women helped cultivate […]