Source · Select Committees · Health and Social Care Committee
Recommendation 9
9
Paragraph: 62
We recommend that NHS England undertake a review of the role of targets across the...
Recommendation
We recommend that NHS England undertake a review of the role of targets across the NHS which seeks to balance the operational grip they undoubtedly deliver to senior managers against the risks of inadvertently creating a culture which deprioritises care of both staff and patients.
Paragraph Reference:
62
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
3.2 As a Government, we recognise that leaders and senior managers are central to creating a supportive, healthy and compassionate workplace culture. The NHS People Plan recognises that the most effective route to making change in the NHS is through its leaders. Staff need to feel valued, supported and empowered to carry out their work and this needs to be role modelled by leaders throughout teams and organisations. 3.3 NHSEI have undertaken work to develop a new description of the behaviours expected of NHS leaders; ‘Our Leadership Way’. This represents the foundation of a new approach to senior leadership and will establish the competencies, values and leadership behaviours we expect from NHS leaders so they can lead to the best of their ability. Leadership and culture will be at the core of how NHS leader’s performance is measured, and this will be reflected in the accountability of the NHS through an updated NHS Oversight Framework and Care Quality Commission Well-Led Framework. 3.4 We recognise that healthcare settings can become stressful and pressurised, sometimes impacting negatively on a minority of staff. We therefore agree that there should be careful consideration in the setting and management of targets, ensuring that such performance measures support quality care but not at the expense of staff wellbeing. That is why, as part of the Long-Term Plan, NHSEI have led the clinical review of standards for Urgent and Emergency Care (UEC) to ensure that the right set of measures are used to evaluate and manage UEC services. 3.5 The Government have worked closely with NHSEI to agree a suite of measures, including workforce measures around staff retention and wellbeing, that will be used to monitor the implementation of the Long-Term Plan. 3.6 We are building our implementation model around systems which will bring together all parts of the health and social care sector within local geographies to ensure that local plans and delivery is aligned to local needs and priorities.