Lucy Letby: Shuffling deckchairs will not work. By Roger Kline

It is a decade since Sir Robert Francis told Ministers “There lurks within the system an institutional instinct which, under pressure, will prefer concealment, formulaic responses and avoidance of public criticism…..an institutional culture which ascribed more weight to positive information about the service than to information capable of implying cause for concern.”  Robert Francis. 2013 […]

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The storm, the sea, and why healthcare isn’t about the NHS at all. By Rich Taunt

Place your bets! Between now and the election we’ll see a raft of NHS flashpoints – maybe the scarcity of GP appointments, longer waits for treatment, or the ongoing saga of what constitutes fair pay for doctors. We can’t say what will grab the limelight, but without doubt something will. These NHS squalls are nothing […]

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When it’s time to go, is there anywhere for me to go? By Sue Holden

Leadership within the NHS has never been more critical. The need to support staff, remain resilient to the ongoing operational challenges create space to develop services which are locally responsive and inclusive are all pre-requisites for organisational success. However, for every leader there is also the need to know when it is time to move […]

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No more silos–our survival and success depend on collaborative leadership and development, and we can’t start too soon. By Emma Challans-Rasool and Charlotte Williams

This is our third blog, and it finds us further ahead in our ongoing journey to understand why managers and medics struggle to lead collectively and with trust and transparency in the NHS today. In our earlier blogs we explored how well understood healthcare managers are[1] and how partnership working in practice can be hampered […]

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Moving away from branded organisational values: why we need a disease-model for organisational culture by Ali Raza

Culture is notoriously difficult to define because it is made up of so many components and influenced by so many factors. One characterisation of culture is that it is the ‘distinctive norms, beliefs, principles and ways of working that combine to give each organization its distinct character’ (1). West et al. argue that the priorities […]

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In conversation with Dr Helen Bevan, OBE

To watch this interview, please follow this link Hello. I’m Domhnall MacAuley.  Welcome to this BMJ Leader conversation. Today I’m talking to Helen Bevan. Helen used to have one of the trendiest job titles I’ve ever heard – “Chief Transformation Officer” and, I have even heard her described as the world’s leading medical social media […]

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