Our Leaders

"We’ve had four very different people from the programme. All have been very successful and made major contributions. The first is now Director of a PCT, the second has reconfigured the Trust’s Children’s Services, the third is now heading up a large shared service in Cheshire, and the forth participant has just started working with us bringing tremendous skills from the commercial sector into our moves towards World Class Commissioning.

Our leaders must be able to deliver programmes and improved performance, and be comfortable with ambiguity – not much is crystal clear as the environment constantly changes and evolves. They also need the passion and ambition to continually improve the organisation and healthcare in general.

We need to tap in to a wide range of skills and understanding from outside of the NHS. That’s where the Gateway to Leadership scheme is unique, by proactively seeking out people from a wide range of backgrounds to bring their strengths and fresh ways of doing things.”

"It is a privilege to be in charge of healthcare delivery to 300,000 people, making sure they get an excellent service. It’s a very interesting place, every day is different, a new challenge.

We had two Gateway participants, one from the Post Office and one from after 20 years in the Navy. Both have come in and done really well. Management in the NHS is not so different from elsewhere really. What we do is very precious, providing a service to customers at times of high vulnerability. Ultimately, it’s not strategy and big budgets – at the end of the day it is real care for real people.

Here in the NHS, if you are good, there’s a real opportunity to progress, you can just get on with it. It’s a stimulating environment with great people. Everyone can relate to the NHS, everyone has an opinion, so you need to be able to handle that. But it really matters!"

"The real challenge is making sure you get the right services in the right place at the right time, and maintain quality. There’s as much focus on health as on health services, reducing health inequalities. As far as resources are concerned, there’s not so much a shortage of funds as a rise in demand and expectation.

We’ve employed three people from the Gateway to Leadership programme, including one who was a manager in Retail (Supply Chain) and the other from the Chemical Industry.

There has been no problem with adapting to the NHS in terms of their ability to work with the people here, engender respect and deliver. Of course, public sector values are not the same as the private sector’s, so they need to develop an understanding of how the NHS functions, how to handle the complexity, the internal bureaucracy and local political leadership, how hard it is to challenge and change things. They need to understand that the NHS is not a business per se, yet needs a business approach."

"I’ve had quite a few notable achievements throughout my career– in fact the list is quite long: I helped hospital turnarounds in Barnsley (which was one of the first Foundation Trusts) and Warwick, led procurement of a £174 million PFI at Walsall, to be commissioned in 2010, led modernisation of Walsall Hospitals, taking out 250 beds over two years and becoming one of only five hospitals to achieve the 18 week rtt target, a whole year early. Right now we’re planning for the future and ensuring our hospital services are best in class by the time we move to our new premises in 2010.

It’s great to have experienced managers from outside the health sector bringing new insights and ways of working to the NHS. The best ex-Gateway managers inspire their staff and model a drive for results and a customer-focussed approach which are essential for the NHS to remain successful."