College welcomes recommendations of independent review of health and adult social care leadership

08 Jun 2022

The Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons of Glasgow has welcomed the publication of an independent review of health and adult social care leadership in England, led by General Sir Gordon Messenger and Dame Linda Pollard.

The review team met over a thousand passionate front-line staff, managers and leaders across health and social care to hear their views which informed their recommendations for improving the skills of all leaders and managers and putting the right culture, training and incentives in place.

The report also sets out new plans to attract great leaders to the most challenged areas in the NHS, with a package of support and incentives to recruit the top talent into these positions. 

It also found evidence of poor behaviours and attitudes such as discrimination, bullying and blame cultures in certain parts of the health and social care system, with some staff in the NHS in particular not feeling comfortable to speak up. It identified a lack of equal opportunity for managers to access training and colleagues to progress in their careers, with those who have existing networks or contacts more likely to access these opportunities.

Mr Michael McKirdy, president of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow said:

“We welcome publication of this independent report, led by Sir Gordon Messenger and Dame Linda Pollard, and the acceptance of the recommendations in full by the Health Secretary, Sajid Javid .

We know that good NHS leadership leads to good patient care and so we strongly agree that collaborative, compassionate leadership and management is essential to the NHS

Managers and leaders, in the same way as all other NHS staff groups, should be valued, have clear career pathways and appropriate training and support.

We also welcome the focus on equality, diversity and inclusion which will improve opportunities for everyone in the NHS workforce and improve the experience of care for all in our society.

We believe that this report provides an opportunity for renewal of NHS leadership and management as the NHS recovers from the pandemic and takes on the challenge of recovery of clinical services in the years ahead.

We will continue to play a productive role in partnership with Government and other stakeholders to address the key challenges facing our Members and Fellows as the recommendations in the report are implemented.”

The report can be found here.

Category: Workforce