SHAs: taking up the ‘Stalinist’ mantra?

Civitas, 12 February 2009

Today, the HSJ reports on the departure of two chief executives recently deposed of their positions at two of London’s biggest trusts – Barts and the London, and West Middlesex University. Here are some of the quotes from its sources:

‘I think there’s a Stalinist culture among SHAs that isn’t helpful. You need to be able to make a mistake’.
– Sir Peter Dixon, Chairman of UCLH
‘It feels as though there’s a new intolerance in London and that some excellent, talented leaders are being forced out or being put under so much pressure they leave’.
– Anon chief executive
‘If someone asked me for views as to whether they should apply for a chief executive’s post, I’d say I wouldn’t touch it with a bargepole.’
-NHS London insider
Such a culture will not only be incredibly damaging for NHS organisations, but also directly impinges upon the Department of Health’s current quest for clinical leaders. Who wants to step up to the plate in such an environment?
SHAs would do well to recall the wisdom of the former CMO, Sir George Godber, who sadly passed away earlier this week. One of the members of the 1940 planning group that led to the founding of the NHS, he had this to say: “The NHS is comprised of very many services rendered daily by physicians, nurses, dentists, pharmacists and others. The content of these services is defined, not by planners, but by essential professional knowledge and skills. Change in method and practice is brought about by intra-professional exchanges; it may be abrupt because of a scientific development such as the advent of a new drug, or it may occur gradually with experience.”
Bravo. A point, incidentally, that the architect of the NHS, Nye Bevan, would no doubt have concurred with. This is an extract from a speech he made shortly after ‘stuffing doctors’ mouths with gold’:
‘I conceive it the function of the Ministry of Health to provide the medical profession with the best and most modern apparatus of medicine and to enable them to freely use it, in accordance with their training, for the benefit of the people of their country. Every doctor must be free to use that apparatus without interference from secular organisations’.
Who, in the government and NHS organisations that so worship his name, is following this pledge through?