The government has charged former vice chief of the defence staff general Sir Gordon Messenger with leading a review of leadership in health and social care.
Its Health and Social Care Leadership Review will look to improve processes and strengthen the leadership of health and social care in England, the government said.
It added that it wants to reduce regional disparities in efficiency and health outcomes and look at how to deliver the findings of proposals and commitments made in previous reports on leadership.
However, representative groups have warned the government must provide more funding for the health and social care systems to support the severe demands facing them and examine the regulations which they work within.
‘Less bureaucracy and interference’
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said to have real value the review should focus on capturing the essence of what makes a good leader and help spread that throughout the service.
“As the NHS changes and moves to system leadership, it is right that we need new leadership skills and approaches. But if we are going to look at leadership and its qualities, then we also need to review the context in which our leaders are operating,” he said.
“The environment is among the most fraught that NHS leaders have experienced and this review will need to support, not hinder, their progress.
“That means the government will need to do what it can to ensure we have the right regulatory environment in place that allows local leaders, including those across primary care, to lead effectively, with less bureaucracy and interference holding them back.
“We are pleased that Dame Linda Pollard, chair of Leeds Teaching Hospital, will lead the review alongside General Sir Gordon Messenger and we look forward to supporting them to ensure this review adds value to front-line leaders and their teams.”
Also responding to the review, Councillor David Fothergill, chairman of the Local Government Association Community Wellbeing Board, called on the review team to work closely with local government to utilise councils’ expertise and help inform their recommendations.
“There is no additional funding for frontline social care from the estimated £36bn to be raised by the new UK-wide Health and Social Care levy over the next three years,” he said.
“Addressing the NHS backlog and freeing up hospital beds cannot be done without also fixing social care and we are calling on the government to commit to a greater share of the levy to go to frontline social care from the outset.
“The upcoming spending review must also provide new investment to stabilise social care and allow local leaders to deliver on the government’s aims of driving efficiency and innovation.”
Identify outstanding leaders
The government added that while the work of the review only applies to England, nations will be free to consider its findings, and it will be funded from within existing department budgets.
Messenger will report back to health and social care secretary Sajid Javid in early 2022.
Javid said: “I am determined to make sure the NHS and social care delivers for the people of this country for years to come and leadership is so important to that mission.
“We are committed to providing the resources health and social care needs but that must come with change for the better.
“This review will shine a light on the outstanding leaders in health and social care to drive efficiency and innovation,” he added.
