Clinical Engagement

The NHS budget is protected from cuts under the new government. But the rise in Emergency Admissions over the last few years threatens to use up all of the protection and more. And yet, until we invest in care outside of hospital, we can’t change this rise.
I have to declare an interest – well two actually.

Deepak Chopra once described Jack Canfield and Victor Hansen's "Chicken Soup for the Soul" books as 'Not Motivational' 1
Motivation is something imposed from outside, the traditional 'rocket up the backside', the manager or change agent pushing people with threats and bribes to change the way they work.

They say another key difference between clinicians and managers is that managers are only interested in what will make money, whereas clinicians are only interested in delivering the highest quality. I don't know if you've studied Lean methodology in any detail? It's a series of techniques for improving the delivery of services and products, and NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement has released a number of guides of its Productive series, Productive Ward, etc. This is about getting people to question the way we do things round here, to see if there's a better way.

There seems to be an enormous gulf, in healthcare, between those that care for patients, and those that administer. Neither side seems to trust the other – clinicians accuse managers of thinking only of costs, and in return managers complain of a refusal to recognise limited resources. This applies in other environments, eg social care, where care professionals and management also seem to struggle to bridge the communication gulf.