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Great leadership in the NHS

"The NHS has some excellent examples of great leadership and this needs to be commonplace across the service," said Rob Webster, chief executive of the NHS Confederation. He continued: "Such leadership, which drives better staff engagement and empowerment, leads to better outcomes for patients and more compassionate care."

The NHS is one of the greatest British institutions

Rob stressed that the NHS "will remain effective and valued by the public through an openness towards learning and improving leadership. We welcome these reviews as a way of ensuring positive leadership reaches every corner of the NHS."

Future leadership models

Rob commented: "Sir David is rightly regarded as one of our finest NHS leaders. Sir Stuart has a fine career in another sector. This combination could be very powerful in considering future leadership models for the NHS." Rob noted that NHS Confederation members have responded positively to learning the lessons from the Francis review.

"Any lessons that can be taken onboard from the business world, or any other sector that does customer service well, should be worth listening to as we strive to deliver the best possible care," he said.

Working to support our members

Over the past year, the NHS Confederation has worked closely with the 14 trusts currently in special measures to ensure their experience is both meaningful and valuable. Rob stressed that this work has not just been to help those trusts aiming to improve, but to ensure the rest of the NHS openly embraces the experience of others.

The Confederation has also collaborated with respected and influential leaders from the NHS, public sector, voluntary and private sectors to gain their personal insights for a series of briefings exploring leadership. The briefings are intended to stimulate discussion about the importance of leaders being able to adapt to working in the new system by building trust, leading through influence and acting courageously.

Find out more

Download our series of briefings exploring leadership.Find out more about our work on bringing NHS leaders together.

Find out more about the Francis report and our work to support members.