It’s not difficult. It really isn’t. We make it difficult. Complicate it.
Management really isn’t difficult… it’s all the other stuff that gets in the way.
You have to get the basics right. Do that and you’re half way there.
The basics?
• Always, hire people who are better than you
• Be sure, to tell them, clearly, what you want them to do
• It’s a must, to involve them in agreeing and deciding how to do it
• Create, the time and space for these good people to get on and do great things
• Be accessible, and that means being ‘there’, not here, behind a desk
• Understand, you can’t save time but you can invest it, so prioritise
• Remember, there is no ‘i’ in team but there is in ‘win’
• And, last… but first; realise happy patients means, first, happy staff
How simple is all that? The Great Book of Management, page one.
The truth is, it’s not difficult. It takes time and energy. Commitment and enthusiasm. But it is not difficult… providing you always have a clear idea of what it is you want to do.
So, the next question asks itself. What are we trying to do?
If I were really truthful. I don’t know.
I just don’t recognise the NHS anymore. And, I’m pretty sure, I’m not the only one.
No one seems bothered.
I thought I knew. I thought, in the round, it existed to provide peace of mind.
Peace of mind for people, old and frail. Peace of mind for people who become the victims of happenstance and life.
Peace of mind, knowing if the ‘what-if’ happened, the NHS would be there.
There can be no peace of mind if you are sandwiched, somewhere in the middle of seven and half million other people, waiting for something to happen to fix your life.
There can be no peace of mind if you know the person looking after you today, won’t be there tomorrow.
There can be no peace of mind if we know; ringing 999, in a crisis, is no longer a guarantee of help.
No one seems bothered.
Most of what we can’t do relates to the fact we could do it but we don’t have enough well trained people, to do it.
The strikes are dragging on.
The Unions flirt with disaster, edging closer to tragedy by withdrawing more people, for longer.
The more protracted the strikes, the less likely HMG are to give in.
The unions are striking over last year’s deal. They’re refusing to talk about next year. HMG are gifted the perfect reason to sit in the middle and tough it out.
No one seems bothered.
We casually accept that because the shortage of staff is infecting parts of the NHS with dismally poor and dangerous services, more danger, to make a point, that there is danger, doesn’t make sense. Anyway…
No one seems bothered.
We are muddling along. Deaf to the siren voices. Blind to the risks. Silent, unable to have the conversations we should.
Most of us won’t use the NHS today, this week, this month or even year. We might go half a lifetime and never see the inside of a hospital or surgery. That’s probably why people aren’t that bothered.
When comes our turn… we might be bothered.
What are we trying to do?
Muddle through? Fix broken industrial relations? Plan a workforce for the future? Get the system doing IT basics? Agree what we want to spend on a health service?
What are we trying to do?
Muddle through? Avoid sensible industrial relations because of the domino effect across HMG’s pay bill. Prevent the workforce plan from being published because of the financial implications? Give IT a wide birth and talk rubbish about AI? Hope no one notices that the next two years funding for the NHS is under 2%.
Strikes won’t fix the depleted workforce. That’ll take ten years.
A pay-rise won’t fix the cost of living crisis. Putin’ll make sure of that.
A recovery plan won’t recover the NHS quick enough to stop people dying, waiting.
And, under 2% is austerity funding and we know what that means.
Does anyone know…
News and Comment from Roy Lilley
Contact Roy – please use this e-address roy.lilley@nhsmanagers.net
Reproduced at thetrainingnet.com by kind permission of Roy Lilley.
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