Health and Social Care Leadership in England Review

(asked on 14th November 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to implement the recommendations of the report by General Sir Gordon Messenger and Dame Linda Pollard entitled Health and social care review: leadership for a collaborative and inclusive future, published on 8 June 2022.


Answered by
Andrew Stephenson Portrait
Andrew Stephenson
Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This question was answered on 20th November 2023

The report made seven recommendations, which were accepted by the Government.

NHS England is leading on implementation of all seven recommendations. Progress has been made on all the recommendations, working in partnership with Skills for Care for those that apply to the social care workforce. An update on each of the recommendations can be found below:

Recommendation 1 – A new national induction scheme for staff of all grades who join health and social care will be launched in April 2024.

Recommendation 2 - Underpinning all the recommendations is the commitment in the review to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) through the NHS England EDI Improvement Plan which was launched in June 2023.

Recommendation 3 – A management and leadership framework is currently being developed for consultation and extensive testing by March 2024. It comprises a management code, professional standards and management competencies at five levels, from entry level to executive manager.

Recommendation 4 - A new standardised Board Appraisal Framework will be delivered by Summer 2024, aligned to the Leadership Competency Framework in fulfilment of the Kark Review. The development of a simplified appraisal for all NHS staff is underway and is expected in 2024/25.

Recommendations 5 – NHS England is working in close partnership with integrated care boards (ICBs) and providers in regions, to convene regional talent pools which support the development of talent pipelines towards board level roles. NHS England Executive director and Aspiring CEO programmes will further help support the development of people with high potential towards first time executive roles. The Aspiring CEO Programme will recruit its next cohort in Spring 2024.

Recommendation 6 – NHS England has launched a new induction day for Non-Executive Directors and Chairs. This ran for the first time nationally in October, with 15 modules of supporting information available from March 2024.

Recommendation 7 – NHS England will be implementing monthly talent meetings between Regional Directors to look ahead towards forthcoming Chair and CEO vacancies and appointment processes. This will help identify potential talent across regions and support succession planning for challenged parts of the system. A first national very senior manager (VSM) pay framework is being developed and will include allowances for enhanced pay at VSM level for moving to challenged or very challenged organisations. Good practice support for senior leaders is due to start early next year for delivery in 2024/5, which includes sharing what has been proven to work when moving to challenged roles or organisations.

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