Health Secretary Sajid Javid has pledged urgent action to overhaul management in the health and social care sector after a major review found evidence of “poor behaviours” including discrimination, bullying and blame cultures.
The review, headed by the senior former military officer General Sir Gordon Messenger, concluded there was an “institutional inadequacy” in the way leadership and management in the sector was trained, developed and valued. Mr Javid said the findings – to be published in full later on Wednesday – were “stark” as he promised “the biggest shake-up of leadership in decades”.
The report comes as the NHS is under pressure to ensure that a £12 billion-a-year cash injection to deal with the backlog that has built up during the Covid pandemic is spent efficiently. A Department of Health and Social Care press release ahead of the full publication said that while the review recognised the pressures on the sector and had identified many examples of inspirational leadership, overall it found “a lack of consistency and co-ordination”.
