Ivy League training for new NHS managers

Ivy League training for new NHS managers  Health secretary's £10m plan is hoped to attract industry leaders as super-managers are promised intensive business course at top UK and US universities

Top industry managers and high-flying doctors are to be lured into leadership positions in the health service under a fast-track "superheads" scheme that could include study at prestigious universities such as Harvard.

A £10m scheme due to be announced on Thursday the health secretary Jeremy Hunt aims to ape the success of a generation of headteachers who have helped to turn around failing schools. It will offer the "brightest and best" candidates a 10-month crash course in how to run hospital trusts and other important parts of the NHS.

The new super-managers will be provided with a two-month intensive business course at top UK and US universities as part of their training. Officials confirmed they were in talks with the US Ivy league Harvard University, whose business school has been identified as a potential training partner.

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Labour questioned Hunt's rationale at a time when the health service was under financial pressure. Jamie Reed, Labour's shadow health minister, said: "When half of all hospital wards in England will be short-staffed tonight, ministers surely can't think it's a priority to send NHS managers to train in the United States."

The planned scheme will begin next spring with Hunt hoping the "first NHS leader" will be in place by early 2015. The health secretary says he has taken his cue from the public inquiry into failings at Mid Staffordshire foundation trust.

Robert Francis QC, who chaired the public inquiry, noted that the "tenure" of NHS trust chief executives is "shockingly short" and the pool of candidates for such posts is "often small" with clinicians particularly reluctant to put themselves forward for senior leadership roles. Three quarters of the new intake will be doctors or nurses with the rest expected to come from outside the NHS.

Hunt's courses will be focused on business for British doctors and nursing candidates while lectures for those coming from outside the health service will be an introduction to the NHS. After this, candidates will spend six months in an NHS trust to learn the ropes followed by another month in industry, with the department of health hoping to offer placements in blue chip firms such as Microsoft.

After completing the course participants must stay with the NHS for two years or pay back fees if they leave early. The new proposals are a departure from the current NHS Leadership Academy, which seeks to refresh top talent in the NHS. At present its "Top Leaders" scheme is only available to NHS directors.

Hunt said: "If we want this country to be a world-leader, we need a world-leading health service led by the very brightest and best, so I am ambitious about seeking out fresh talent wherever we can find it.

"Mediocre management and lack of clinical leadership were key contributors to the tragedy at Mid Staffs. We are determined to learn that lesson, and train strong leaders drive up standards across the NHS through this cutting-edge programme."

The announcement comes as Hunt will outline plans to turn around 11 hospitals put in "special measures" as a result of the Keogh review, which sought to examine failing in trusts with high death rates for the last two years.  Guardian