End top-down changes to NHS, says think tank

Politicians should loosen their grip on the day to day management of the NHS and allow organisations to initiate improvement from within, a new report from the health policy think tank the King’s Fund has urged.1

Chris Ham, the think tank’s chief executive and the author of the report, argued that intervening in management of the NHS and prescribing health service changes from the centre of government had hampered rather than nurtured reform.

The report said that the intentions in the Health and Social Act 2012 to distance ministers from the operational management of the NHS have failed to be realised.

“Regardless of which political party is in government, there appears to be an irresistible tendency for ministers to want to be seen to be leading …