Behind every successful woman is herself

I write this blog on my own, but I’m supported by my wonderful wife J. Every week she will ask ‘what will you be writing about tomorrow?’ and my almost inevitable response is usually ‘I don’t know yet’. Although I do collect stories and ideas during the week, often these don’t metamorphose into my blog until I start writing. This week is no different.

For example, I have continued to wear my one yellow and one blue pair of clogs for all but one of the 137 days of the Ukraine war (the missing day was the Queen’s Jubilee where I chose a purple pair). I believe we must keep this unremitting conflict in our minds and those, who are impacted by it, in our thoughts and prayers. Not forgetting those caught up in all the other atrocities that continue less visibly worldwide. One of the many consequences of the Ukraine war is a growing global shortage of chickpeas, the basic ingredient of hummus. In UK supermarkets, the price of this delicious food has gone up almost 100% since the war started. Now I have very little sympathy for the Waitrose shopper outraged by this particular cost of living increase, but I do have concerns for the millions of folk across the world who rely on chickpeas and other pulses as their main source of protein.

Then there was the news that Boris Johnson was to resign as Prime Minister. Right to the end (well nearly the end) of his time in office, he remained positive about his achievements – a Brexit deal that wasn’t oven ready, not building 40 new hospitals, coming out of the Covid pandemic about the same time as other countries, not levelling up and best of all, enjoying the second lowest economic growth rate in the G20. But we don’t do politics in this blog. 

One of the consequences of how this whole sad saga unfolded was that at precisely the same time the NHS was taking its first tentative steps into a brave new world of collaboration and place-based care, we get a new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. We will have to wait and see what the impact of this change at the top might bring.

Just before he resigned his post last week (ironically on the 74th birthday of the NHS), the then Secretary of State, Sajid Javid decided to get rid of the NHS Chief People Officer post. This is a role that has only been held by Prerana Issar, who resigned earlier in the year due to ongoing Covid-related health problems. Her role (renamed Chief Workforce Officer) will now be subsumed into that of Navina Evans, currently CEO of Health Education England. There are a number of things about this decision that made me pause and reflect. I hate the collective noun ‘workforce’. It is singular in form but plural in meaning. Arguably, ‘people’ is NOT a collective noun like team or staff. It is a plural noun. No doubt J will correct my assertion later. Regardless of the grammar, the NHS is a people organisation. Many people come together to deliver the NHS’s services.    

Something else that made me stop and think was the given reason for getting rid of the post. It would make a saving of £200,000 a year. I’m all for being prudent and careful with public money but come on, £200,000! To perhaps put this into context, on average each MP claims £203,880 a year in expenses. Last year Boris Johnson’s expenses’ claim came to £178,406. Maybe we could get rid of him and save the country this expense …hold on, we have already made that saving – I know, we don’t do politics here ...but do you remember that red bus….

The more important aspect of doing away with the Chief People’s post is the fact that right now that means there is one less woman sitting at the top NHS table. I think this will have an adverse impact. There is much evidence to prove that women consistently perform better as leaders then men – see here for example. This recent article appears relevant when thinking about last week’s events and what is unfolding now with regard to who might become the next Prime Minister. In the private sector, many organisations expect talented people to fight for power. And that’s what many men do. Women don’t. If indeed they do fight at all, it’s for a purpose rather than power.  

I’m fortunate to work in an organisation that has a high number of women sitting on its Board – 11 of the 17 Board directors are women, including a brilliant CEO. Does it make a difference? Undoubtedly yes. In this regard, as an NHS organisation we might be an outlier. It’s a fact that globally, women make up almost 80% of all those working in healthcare services. Both in clinical and professional support services, women are doing 80% of the work. However, they generally don’t represent 80% of the decision makers. If we add into the mix other factors such as disability, ethnicity, socio-economic background and so on, I think the balance between men and women when it comes to decision makers, is probably even more unequal. Women are typically underrepresented at many levels of leadership across the NHS.

Interestingly, that isn’t the case with the Chief Nursing Officer in England. The Chief Nurse is the most senior professional leader and advisor on nursing matters to the government. Since the post was first created in 1941 there have been 10 Chief Nurses, all of whom have been women. The present Chief Nurse, Dame Ruth May, like many women in the NHS, demonstrated huge courage, strength, determination and leadership during the first two years of the pandemic. She continues to lead her #TeamCNO from the front. I think that at a time where public trust in the integrity, honesty and morality of our leaders has been severely damaged, people like Ruth shine like a beacon of hope. Likewise, I hope that during this current period of uncertainty and change, we can all think about what more we can do to celebrate and value the contribution women make to both health and social care.

It wouldn’t hurt to also think about what a difference they might make to our British politics too.