The NHS is facing some of its biggest financial and quality challenges since its inception. An ageing population poses significant challenges to our health care system. The increase in demand means that the NHS needs to make efficiency savings worth £20bn by 2015. Older people are more likely to have complex conditions, requiring better co-ordination and integration of care. Never before has effective leadership and management been so vital for our healthcare system.
In May last year, the King's Fund published a report, called No More Heroes, into the future of leadership. It found that, contrary to prevailing assumptions, the NHS was not over-managed. Cuts in management will result in the loss of thousands of experienced leaders at a time when their expertise is most needed to secure essential productivity gains.
The report also found that a shift away from the strong heroic leader model relied upon to meet targets was needed. It judged that leaders are far more likely to meet today's challenges, and deliver better results financially and in terms of quality of care, by engaging populations, patients, carers and staff. More engaging leadership styles will also be important in enabling patients and their families to receive better co-ordinated care across systems.
This approach to leadership was also explored by the NHS Institute of Innovation and Improvement and the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, which used a medical scale to measure levels of engagement amongst clinicians. Initially working with 30 hospitals, the study concluded that there was a very strong association between medical engagement and clinical and financial performance, as assessed by the Care Quality Commission.
The new national structures, such as the NHS Commissioning Board and Leadership Academy, will have a key role to play in developing leadership across the systems but, importantly, local NHS bodies and local authorities will be instrumental in embedding it throughout the system.
There are already some exciting programmes working on real challenges within communities. In Surrey, clinicians are focusing on optimising the care of the frail elderly, working with the King's Fund on a whole system leadership programme.
The work has encompassed social care, community providers, GPs, mental health and acute care along with nursing homes. This is just one example where openness and communication amongst a multitude of players is at the core of effective and sustainable change in pursuit of delivering high value care.
The challenges for the NHS and local government to continue to enhance the range and quality of services within a very challenging fiscal environment requires the very highest quality of leadership. The case for a more distributed and engaging style of leadership is compelling and needs to be the norm now more than ever before.
The King's Fund is holding its second annual summit on leadership and management on 23 May and will be publishing a follow-up to the No More Heroes report at the event.
Guardian Professional.
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