{"id":240,"date":"2026-04-19T18:13:38","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T17:13:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/healthcare-management-capacity\/?p=240"},"modified":"2026-04-19T21:37:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T20:37:49","slug":"beyond-the-firefighting-why-management-is-the-secret-engine-of-nhs-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/healthcare-management-capacity\/2026\/04\/19\/beyond-the-firefighting-why-management-is-the-secret-engine-of-nhs-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond the Firefighting: Why Management is the Underrated Engine of NHS Innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a healthcare system often defined by immediate &#8220;firefighting&#8221;, how do we create the space to actually improve? On November 11th, over 600 people attended a Health Foundation webinar to confront this challenge. The event marked the third stakeholder session of an ongoing, two-year research project, <strong>&#8220;Management Capacity and Capability in NHS Trusts and System-level Partnerships.&#8221;<\/strong> Led by Professor Ian Kirkpatrick at the University of York, this study seeks to move beyond the &#8220;bureaucracy&#8221; debate to understand how management can be strengthened to drive the sustainable innovation that the NHS desperately needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dr. Nnenna Osuji, the session chair, opened with a provocative reminder: while often portrayed negatively in the media, managers are actually the &#8220;lifeblood of the NHS&#8221;. The &#8220;hunger&#8221; for this conversation\u2014proven by the high attendance\u2014shows a service eager to move from surviving to thriving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The &#8220;Extreme Job&#8221; of the Modern Managers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Undoubtedly, NHS management is an &#8220;extreme job&#8221;, with a workforce representing only 3% of the total staff\u2014significantly lower than the 9% seen across the wider UK economy. When managers are stuck in cycles of quick fixes, there is little &#8220;discretionary capacity&#8221; left for the creative work of improvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, the session highlighted that innovation isn&#8217;t just about &#8220;new toys&#8221;; it\u2019s about the <strong>dynamic capabilities<\/strong> that allow an organisation to develop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Lessons from the Frontline: Turning Ideas into Impact<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The heart of the webinar featured three NHS managers who proved that management capacity is the bridge between a good idea and a better patient outcome:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Demystifying the Process:<\/strong> At Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Mark Hayward\u2019s &#8220;Blue Sky Training&#8221; has empowered over 600 staff with project management skills. By &#8220;unravelling and demystifying&#8221; these tools, they\u2019ve turned a perceived bureaucratic burden into a practical way for every ward to lead change.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Power of Engagement:<\/strong> Sarah Wellings, from Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, showcased the &#8220;My Staff&#8221; app, which slashed document retrieval time for 17,000 staff from 20 minutes to under 30 seconds. The project lead attributed the success of this completely grassroot innovation to a combination of &#8220;heart&#8221; (values), &#8220;team&#8221; (engagement), and &#8220;competencies&#8221; (skills).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Transforming Mindsets:<\/strong> Julia Nixon discussed a monumental shift at Yorkshire Ambulance Service, moving from a &#8220;dispatch&#8221; model to a clinical triage system. This required &#8220;tenacity with a capital T&#8221; to support staff through the emotional upheaval of changing long-held ways of working.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Path Forward: Purpose, Precision, and Persistence<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The session concluded with a call to move away from &#8220;heroic&#8221; lone leadership toward a culture of collective capability. Ian Abbs, Strategic Advisor and former CEO of Guy\u2019s and St Thomas\u2019 NHS Foundation Trust, summarized the mission ahead with three words: <strong>Purpose, Precision, and Persistence<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The message was clear: innovation is not an optional extra; it is the <strong><em>only<\/em><\/strong> way to ensure the NHS remains sustainable. As Dr. Osuji noted, &#8220;inaction and indecision is a risk in and of itself&#8221;. This is our moment to broaden the work of innovation, ensuring every manager is supported to be a steward of change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>[Watch the full webinar on the Health Foundation\u2019s YouTube channel via the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.health.org.uk\/events\/webinar-the-role-of-management-in-leading-and-supporting-innovation-and-improvement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong> link<\/strong><\/a>]<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>[Learn more about the University of York research project <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.york.ac.uk\/business-society\/research\/management-capacity-and-capability-in-healthcare\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a><\/strong>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How can we define the value of NHS management in a time when innovation is no longer a luxury, but a necessity for survival? While often viewed as a bureaucratic burden, managers are the essential &#8220;lifeblood&#8221; that keeps the system functioning. This blog captures a recent Health Foundation webinar, exploring how managers in the NHS transforms daily firefighting into sustainable improvement for patient care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":261,"featured_media":243,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[31,17,25,32],"class_list":["post-240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-innovation","tag-management-capacity","tag-quality-improvement","tag-the-health-foundation"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/healthcare-management-capacity\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2026\/04\/pexels-photo-5505154.jpeg","custom_fields":{"_edit_lock":["1777314080:261"],"_thumbnail_id":["243"]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/healthcare-management-capacity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/healthcare-management-capacity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/healthcare-management-capacity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/healthcare-management-capacity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/261"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/healthcare-management-capacity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/healthcare-management-capacity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/healthcare-management-capacity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/healthcare-management-capacity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/healthcare-management-capacity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/healthcare-management-capacity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}