Bonus Ep. Live from EvoNorth 2019: Health, Social Care & Wellbeing

In episode 42 of the National Health Executive podcast we were joined by Steve Gulati who is an associate professor at the University of Birmingham as well as director of healthcare leadership at the university’s Health Services Management Centre.

During the podcast, we discussed the difference between leadership when he first joined the NHS in the 90s and to now, plus the main levers for these changes. Steve also highlighted the ‘well-known truths’ about NHS leadership which are seldom voiced as well as what changes he would like to see in the future.

“Leadership in those days was almost synonymous with management – it certainly wasn’t [like] the nuanced distinctions that you get today,” said Steve. “Allied to that, there was a concept that was more prominent of what I would call ‘stewardship’ rather than leadership.”

In episode 41 of the National Health Executive podcast, we were joined by Dr Angela Smith, research fellow at Bournemouth University, and Andy Oakey, research fellow at the University of Southampton, to discuss the viability of drones within the NHS transport system.

Angela and Andy talked about some of the misinformation about drones and suggested that drone travel is not quite ready for the NHS yet.

Angela said: “The eDrone project has been focused on NHS case studies, but what we have found is that the reporting around these case studies – the trials in particular – has led to some misconceptions about what the trials are achieving and the future benefits of drones.”

Andy explained: “If you actually look back at our project bids, we were sucked into this rhetoric of drones being the next big thing. The original idea was to look at where’s best to use them [drones], with a positive spin, but as we have gone into it we have learnt more and understood how there is a lot more than meets the eye.”

In episode 40 of the National Health Executive podcast, we were joined by Lee Carpenter, who is the head of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s UK Stem Cell Bank (UKSCB).

During the podcast, Lee explained what the UK Stem Cell Bank is and the significance of its work, what its future holds and some of the opportunities in the world of stem cell research.

Speaking on how big a role automation will play in the future of the stem cell field, Lee said: “I think it is going to be fairly critical. We can see the manufacturing of stem cells is hugely labour-intensive, it is expensive too.”

Lee goes onto explain how automation can widen patient access and eliminate human errors. Listen to the full podcast to hear more of Lee’s thoughts on the future of stem cells.

In episode 39 of the National Health Executive podcast, we were joined by Anthony Painter, who is the director of policy at the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), to discuss all things management within the UK health sector and NHS.

During the podcast, Anthony shared some of the recent research CMI conducted in partnership with the Social Market Foundation, which centred around the state of management and leadership within the NHS.

Anthony said: “One thing that was found [in the report] was that 27% of managers in the NHS think that the leadership in their organisation is not effective.

This is obviously very worrying, according to Anthony – especially because “research shows that, if you have above average leadership and management in your organisation, you’re far more likely, or three times more likely, to be a highly performing NHS organisation than if you have a less than average level”.

Anthony also discusses some of the calls for regulation of managers within the NHS, what makes a good NHS manager, and how senior leaders can go about recruiting the right way.

In episode 38 of the National Health Executive podcast, we were joined by divisional director at Rental+, Jon Steward, to discuss one of the foundational elements of any good health setting.

Rental+ offers the NHS cutting-edge foodservice and refrigeration equipment using a unique rental model.

Elaborating on the differences between this model and a typical procurement process, Jon explained: “First of all you just pay a monthly fee for the equipment; second of all, it is inclusive of service and maintenance – this is why the NHS loves this solution, because it reduces their capital outlay and gives them a fixed cost.”

This gives senior health leaders the peace of mind that sudden or hidden expenditures won’t wreak havoc with pre-determined budgets. A third point is that Rental+ guarantee the equipment will be working all the time.

Jon went onto say: “For healthcare executives considering Rental+, my key advice would be to view this as, not just a service, but as a partnership. We’ve worked with the NHS for so long – we’re not just a solution provider, we’re an extension of the trusts that we work with.”

Listen to the full podcast episode to hear more about how the NHS can benefit.

In episode 37 of the National Health Executive podcast, we were joined by the former chair of the National Institute for Health and Car Excellence, Sir David Haslam, to discuss the current state of the NHS and whether it needs to be rebooted.

During the podcast, David discussed the piece he and David Pendleton, professor of leadership at Henley Business School, authored for the National Health Executive magazine, where he argues that the UK health sector needs to focus its financial support on bolstering primary care and community care on the one side, and social care on the other.

David said: “We came up with this vision: if you think of the health system like a bookshelf, you’ve got the hospitals as the big books on the shelf, but if your bookends aren’t working effectively then everything tumbles down. And the bookends at one end are primary care; the other end is social care.

“If both of those aren’t supported then the whole system is going to fall apart.”

Listen to the full podcast to hear David’s thoughts on prevention, the UK’s health spending and more about how leaders can rebalance the NHS for the future.

In episode 36 of the National Health Executive podcast, we were joined by Omnicell’s UK professional services director, Ed Platt, to discuss interoperability in the NHS, practical examples of where it can be leveraged best, the importance of the health service's digital transformation journey and more.

During the podcast, Ed discussed Omnicell’s provenance and how the mismanagement of medical supplies led to the company’s founding in 1992, which, to this day, galvanises them to continuously deliver innovations that help improve the standard of care in hospitals.

When asked about how Omnicell started, Ed explained: “That story is about our CEO, Randall Lipps… he was in hospital, his daughter was being treated and he was stood there and noticed that the clinicians were looking for the products – I think catheters and some other items – but they couldn’t find them.

“He then went off to his garage and started developing the first automated dispensing cabinet, brought that to market in 1992 and now we have over 2000 systems in the UK.

“That story, that observation, still stands true today.”

To listen to more about Omnicell's founding principles, how they are already helping the NHS and how they can further support the UK health sector, listen to the full podcast above.

In episode 35 of the National Health Executive podcast, we were joined by Professor Durka Dougall who is the chair of The Health Creation Alliance and Dr Andy Knox who is Associate Medical Director at Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board.

In the episode we spoke about population health, population health management, public health, health inequalities and everything in between. We also went into how all of the aforementioned phrases factor into combatting health inequalities.

The podcast explores how both guests first entered this particular part of the health sector and their passion behind it.

Dr Knox discusses the epiphany he had while working as a GP that allowed him to think differently and enter a role leadership role where he helped engage local communities in thinking more about their own health.

Prof Dougall also discusses her exasperation at the lack of progress on the health inequalities front despite widespread acknowledgement of the presence of avoidable issues.

Listen to the full podcast for more.

In Episode 34 of the National Health Executive podcast, we are joined by NHS England’s national clinical director for infection, antimicrobial resistance and deterioration, Dr Matt Inada-Kim, to discuss whether the pandemic is really over, how the NHS has learnt from Covid-19 and what the NHS needs to do to prepare for the next global health incident.

Dr Inada-Kim said: “Whilst technically it [the pandemic] might be over in terms of the numbers, certainly from a Covid perspective, we’re very much still in maelstrom of the effects of it – particularly the backlog.

“But it’s not just catching up on the elective work in terms of surgery, operations or appointments but it’s also a backlog of preventative and chronic disease management that I don’t think we were optimally able to provide during the lockdown.”

Dr Inada-Kim went onto explain how he believes the health service needs a “sea change” to ensure patients are cared for in the right place and not just the most convenient one as well as highlighting the need to make use of industry partnerships to further accelerate the “ explosion of digital tech”.

He also went on to note need for better “measurement” in terms of how the NHS benchmarks quality and safety of care against both itself and other health systems.

“A lot of our initiatives appear to be focused around avoiding work – reducing activity, avoiding an admission, avoiding an attendance, reducing general practice appointments for instance – [but] we also need, with 50% of our energy, to be focusing on quality of care, the safety of care [and] ensuring outcomes for patients remain at the very forefront of everything we do.”

In Episode 33 of the National Health Executive (NHE) podcast, we spoke to Dr Matt Harris who is a clinical senior lecturer in public health at Imperial College London and Dr Nav Chana who is the former chair of the National Association of Primary Care.

They told us about a scheme imported from Brazil that uses community health workers to increase NHS health checks, enhance cancer screening numbers and drive immunisation.

Dr Harris said: “What was interesting about the way in which they [Brazil] deployed their community health workers was that there was a very efficient and effective system that has scaled nationally and is actually the biggest publicly-provided, taxpayer-funded, free-at-the-point-of-use primary care system in the world now – they have 275,000 community health workers!”

Dr Harris went onto explain what was so unique about the way Brazil uses their community health workers citing their intimate knowledge of their community, how they are paid full time and the catchment areas they are responsible for.

Dr Harris and Dr Chana then explained the attitudes around learning from countries like Brazil and how they need to change.