BMJ  2007;335:1268 (15 December), doi:10.1136/bmj.39426.643449.0F

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So, did Gerry fix it?

One year on from attempting to reduce waiting lists at a Rotherham hospital, business guru Sir Gerry Robinson is back. Rebecca Coombes reports

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Despite its grandiose title, Can Gerry Robinson Fix the NHS? was a surprise hit on British television at the beginning of 2007 (BMJ 2007;334:124-5, doi: 10.1136/bmj.39097.690428.59). Its premise was simple: challenge a management guru to reduce the waiting lists at an NHS trust within six months and with no extra funds at his disposal.

What Sir Gerry Robinson, who has made a career out of reviving failing companies, found at Rotherham General Hospital, South Yorkshire, were warring clinicians and managers, entrenched opinions, and a struggling chief executive.

Robinson was "stunned" by the waste in nearly every department. There were lingering shots of theatres lying empty on a Friday afternoon. He was shocked by the animosity between clinicians and managers. Surgeons and anaesthetists behaved like children and threw regular tantrums, according to managers. The consultants emerged as the bogeymen of the series. Feisty, resistant to change, unmanageable, were the . . . [Full text of this article]

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