It is time to end the 'heads on spikes' approach to NHS failures

The health service needs to distinguish between managers who cross a moral line and those who get into difficulty trying to do their best

The leadership implosions at Liverpool community health NHS trust and Wirral University teaching hospital NHS trust have been followed by another bout of soul-searching at NHS Improvement about when and how to fire NHS managers.

In an interview with HSJ, recently appointed NHS Improvement chair Dido Harding articulated widely felt disquiet over the health service’s failure to distinguish between people in senior roles whose performance has fallen short and those who have, in her words, “crossed a moral line”.

Related: Liverpool NHS scandal shows how culture of denial harms patients

Continue reading... April 06, 2018 at 07:06PM