Building the plane while flying it
NHS Confederation
We bring together, support and speak for the whole healthcare system in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
“If someone said to me, ‘do you want to take a journey on a plane that's going to be redesigned while you're in the air?’, I'd probably take the ferry,” quips Matthew Taylor.
His comment came in response to Dr John Martin’s reflection that the challenge of the 10 Year Health Plan is the ability to make necessary changes “while still flying the plane that is the NHS, or the ambulance service, in our case.”
As chief executive of South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, he’s seen several iterations of the aspirations of the plan. “For me, it's going to be about whether or not we can take the ambitions that are outlined, where the ambulance service fits, where the paramedic profession fits within that, and whether we can deliver it.”
Alongside fellow ambulance service leaders Simon Weldon and Anna Parry, Dr Martin joined Matthew for a candid conversation on the implications of the 10 Year Health Plan and Urgent and Emergency Care Plan, on the latest episode of Health on the Line.
Together they reflect on changes to commissioning, the integration mission, the drive towards neighbourhood health and the interface between ambulance services and A&E departments.
Ultimately, for Simon Weldon, there is an undoubted need to develop different models of care. “Simply doing the same thing – keeping on doing the same thing – will inevitably result in the people who most need us being not served well, but also the people who could be treated differently not being served well,” he says.
With winter on the horizon and planning underway, our guests also reflect on what lies ahead.
In advance of the discussion, Sarah Walter, director of the NHS Confederation’s ICS Network, joins Matthew to consider the model region blueprint – a document that sets out how the English regions will be managed in future and what that means for integrated care boards and providers alike.
At the time of recording, the document was awaiting release but has subsequently been published. You can access the NHS Confederation’s briefing for everything you need to know.
Health on the Line
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The model region blueprint: what you need to know
Leadership, Optimal Performance, Organisation Dynamics and Flow state 💢EOT Mutual Equity 💢LFB Performance 💢Author of StratNav💢NED 💢Business School Advisory Board Member
1wThe dangers of debating irrelevant metaphors. The NHS is not a mode of transport, it’s a means of transformation. Perhaps they can think of it as a biological process that evolves , then we can debate how to ensure it’s able to continuously adapt. Highly adaptive organisations don’t lurch from one model to another every 10 years. It requires a combination of evolution and revolution. Plenty of other organisations have it. It’s not about managing change. It’s about being powered by change and understanding organisation dynamics.
Executive | Leadership Advisor | Innovation & Change Leadership in Regulated Product Systems | MedTech | Connecting Loose Ends
1wBuilding the plane while flying it is a great metaphor and it’s the lived reality of healthcare leadership. What resonates with me here beyond the risk of redesigning in mid-air is the responsibility. To steer transformation in a way that doesn’t destabilise those on board (patients, clinicians, paramedics) while still daring to reimagine what the plane could be is a key success factor. In my experience, the real leadership challenge lies in holding two truths at once: - that continuity of care must never be compromised, - and that radical redesign is not optional but essential if we are to meet the needs of the next decade. For me, healthcare leadership is about ensuring that when we do fly, we fly safely, purposefully, and together.
Co-founder and CEO ALCROEN (www,alcroen.com) by AR Int. Holdings Ltd UK Director Dr Alka Skincare and Healthcare Everyday Elegance AR Academy of Aesthetics UK
1wThr best way to move forward tj keep building accessories and improved versiksn and attach them to plane
Freelance Senior Technology Leader/Consultant
1wTo continue the aeronautical theme here, one of the other problems is "navigating" the political landscape. Each time the politicians decide to get involved and "fix the NHS" they tend to throw the baby out with the bathwater and create new problems in the process. Changes to monitoring and funding regimes take time to understand and navigate through which often stops or stalls improvement projects depending on perceived levels of risk. Its like trying to navigate by the stars only to find they have been moved by some omnipotent force? An example is putting the NHS back under direct political and civil servant control, the consequences of removing NHSE and slimming down ICBs etc. means that Streeting and Reeves expect redundancy costs to come from existing budgets, this reduces funding for improvements at a time when the financial regime punishes missed improvement targets. I wonder if a future government would be brave and campaign on leaving the NHS alone for a bit to allow changes to bed in for once before pressing the reset button.
CEO - Health Connect | One Mission | One Solution | Life Changing Care
1wThe problem was never redesigning the plane mid-flight. The real danger is flying a plane that was never built to land. So what’s the alternative? Ground it? Offload the passengers? Park the NHS in a hangar for five years while we figure it out? That’s not an option. Because the passengers aren’t hypothetical, they’re bleeding, waiting, deteriorating in real time. This isn’t about finding a safer metaphor, this is about building systems with urgency for those still onboard.