Caring for the 18,000

After such a great week, I am almost hesitant to write this week’s blog. Among other things, I attended the NHS Providers conference in Manchester. It was a truly motivating week for me, but sadly for many others, up to 18,000 others in fact, this week will have been a real challenge. Last week, our Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, finally gave the go-ahead for a large number of redundancies across the NHS. The 50% reduction was first announced earlier this year, with many colleagues having endured months of uncertainty, as to whether they would have a job in the future.

It will have been a dreadful time for colleagues who potentially will be impacted. A Sword of Damocles doesn’t even begin to capture what they will have been going through. Wes stood on the stage at our conference last Wednesday and apologised that it had taken so long to get to this point. He apologised for the undeniable hurt that will have been caused by the delay. However, he said at least progress could now be made on reducing the numbers of people working in NHS England, the Department of Health and Social Care and in Integrated Care Systems.

That was my ‘however’. I cannot imagine that any one wants to hear that they may be losing their job. I have always been fortunate in being able to make my own career choices. Some decisions have been great, others less so. But I have always been able to control where I work and what it is I do. Not having that choice, like many others I’m sure, would be devasting. There is no good time to hear such news, but being so close to Christmas will add to the sense of worry and loss. And such it will be for many people; a loss of income, a pause to a career pathway, possible family disruption, and importantly a possible loss of their sense of self.

After such a good week, a week where I was inspired as to the possibilities beginning to emerge around transforming health care provision in the UK, this news felt inconceivably depressing. I have held many management leadership roles. Yes, I have worked in organisations that have downsized, and sometimes I have been responsible for such programmes. I like to think that such difficult times for those affected were managed well, putting people first in achieving what the organisation wanted or needed to do. How people have been treated doesn’t feel like this is the case here.

The theme of the conference last week was ‘Recharge’. I think it was meant to reflect the enormous changes facing the NHS, and the opportunities doing things differently might bring. Some of the sessions reflected this optimism. I was entranced by the possibilities that artificial intelligence (AI) might bring, different approaches to commissioning care and the lessons we can learn from international perspectives on neighbourhood health.

Ironically, one of the heavily promoted sessions was one on different perspectives of leadership. It was a facilitated conversation between Terence Stephenson and Victor Adebowale (both currently Chairs of NHS Providers, and NHS Confederation). They took us through what they thought makes for an effective manager and a great leader. I say ironically, because what they shared bore no resemblance to the reality of the leadership and management behaviours demonstrated by those responsible for the structural changes to the NHS.    

It doesn’t have to be like this. I once worked with a medical director called Umesh. At every Board meeting, he would remind us that happy staff made for happy patients. There is an element of truth in this. It doesn’t matter what role you play, whether you are close to the patient or in support of those who are, feeling good about what you do, and how you do it, will enhance the difference you can make. I just hope that those charged with actually delivering the widespread NHS redundancy programme, which will impact so many people, do so with humanity, care and compassion.