Health Service Journal February 7th 2023
NHS England will attempt to ‘cultivate the right personality’ as an
‘empowering coach-like leader’ in part to ‘rebuild lost trust’ with the
service.
The strategy has emerged from work undertaken by branding agency Thompson.
It has been engaged by NHSE to help “position” the “future role” of the
organisation after its merger with NHS Digital and Health Education
England.
The “interim update for senior leaders” presented by Thompson and senior
NHSE comms managers last month, and seen by HSJ, seeks to put forward a
“central narrative” and “messaging framework”, for the “new NHS England”.
Thompson carried out research among senior NHSE figures, including
director of transformation Tim Ferris, Health Education England chief
executive Navina Evans and deputy chief operating officer Mark Cubbon
during the last three months of 2022. It also studied a range of NHSE
strategy documents and interviews given to HSJ by NHSE director of
strategy Chris Hopson and departing NHSD CEO Simon Bolton.
The research concluded that “many stakeholders” felt it was “important to
rebuild what they see as lost trust [in NHSE]”.
The leaders surveyed said they wanted “the new NHS England” to be
“positioned primarily as a facilitator of improvement”, and for the
organisation to be seen as “part of the solution, rather than part of the
problem”.
Stakeholders felt this could be achieved by a “shift in tone” from an
“authoritative” approach to a “collaborative one”. They recommended NHS
become “a servant leader”, able to effectively communicate what “system
working means”.
They also wanted to “allay the fear” that HEE and NHSD’s “functions are
being related to positions of lower authority”.
In response to the research, Thompson made a number of recommendations.
These included that NHSE:
“Reframe” its “core function” away from “regulation, policy and budget
control” to focus on “collaboration and system working”.
“Cultivate the right personality” of an “empowering coach-like leader”.
“Adopt a ‘down to earth’ type of voice… to avoid the perception that
NHS England is an ‘ivory tower’.” The new NHSE should be “able to
communicate on the same level as its audience”.
Build “credibility” and avoid being seen as “disconnected from
frontline realities” by developing “messages that demonstrate empathy
with “concerns on the ground”.
“Actively combat the media-driven narrative of NHS England being made
up solely of bureaucrats”.
The information seen by HSJ said these recommendations would “become the
core requirements” of a campaign to be launched in April.
NHSE chief executive Amanda Pritchard has stressed on a number of
occasions her wish to establish a more collegiate relationship with the
service. She has, for example, brought a range of senior trust chief
executives into part-time roles within the organisation. The ongoing
Hewitt review is expected to recommend that NHSE give more autonomy to
integrated care systems, and the latest planning guidance to the service
featured far fewer detailed requirements than in previous years.
An NHSE spokesperson said: “We have always been clear, as set out in our
operating framework, NHSE is changing the way that it works to reflect the
move to system-based approaches and stronger partnership working. As we
bring together three large organisations and with any merger of this
scale, complex and detailed work is needed to establish how the new
organisation will operate – this piece of work was undertaken to support
that.”
The branding and digital design agency Thompson has worked closely with
NHSE in the past. For example, in 2016 it helped “develop a comprehensive
identity policy” for the service.
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