Press release: Changing management is no magic bullet NHS Confederation calls for better understanding of why hospitals fail
11 Feb 2002
Commenting on today's announcement that four hospitals will have their management franchised, the NHS Confederation Chief Executive, Dr Gill Morgan said, "the way we measure performance in the NHS does not diagnose why a hospital is failing, only that it has not met its targets. Where management has clearly failed, it is absolutely right that it should be changed, however, making changes without analysing why a hospital has failed, risks ending up with the wrong solution to the wrong problem."1
She continued, "the task for the NHS is not waiting until hospitals are in the position of failing, but putting more effort into the prevention of failure."
"We have a real opportunity in the next few months, with the creation of Strategic Health Authorities to get the performance management system right and focus on ensuring that hospitals make long term and sustained change that will prevent failure and genuinely benefit patients," she concluded.
Ends
Notes for editors
1. In the South East, the underlying problem in many hospitals is staff shortages. This may not be a problem that can be solved with new management.
The NHS Confederation represents the organisations that make up the NHS. Our members include the majority of NHS trusts, primary care trusts and health authorities in England; trusts, health authorities and local health groups in Wales; trusts and NHS boards in Scotland; and health and social services trusts and boards in Northern Ireland.
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