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Yale and SEPT Equip UK Healthcare Leaders with Management Tools Needed to Succeed Amidst Evolving National Health Service

Yale University and the UK-based South Essex Partnership National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust (SEPT) partnered to deliver a week-long training program for 31 senior executives and top managers in the UK’s NHS in early November.  The training is part of Yale’s Professional Development Program in International Healthcare Management.  It is part of Yale’s broader initiative to address leadership and healthcare delivery globally.  Held in Essex, England, the dynamic management program proved to be an overwhelming success. 

“These partnerships are essential to furthering our global mission and we all grow in the process,” says Elizabeth Bradley, Ph.D., Professor and Director of the Health Management Program at Yale School of Public Health.

The program featured David Nicholson, Chief Executive of NHS, who presented his vision for leadership given NHS policy reforms established by the UK government in its recently published The NHS Plan.  These changes include the introduction of Foundation Trusts, a key element of NHS’ new healthcare delivery system that seeks to shift significant decision-making control from the central government to the local level.  These changes will grant NHS the opportunity to lead and innovate by infusing an entrepreneurial spirit and business skills into the publicly funded and universally accessible health system. 

Yale and SEPT’s efforts were designed to catalyze a new mindset among NHS healthcare managers and to impart mastery of new leadership and management skills.  Such skills will enable these leaders to succeed within the new financial and operational framework of NHS Foundation Trusts and amidst other reforms to the healthcare delivery system.  In 2006, under the vision and leadership of Chief Executive Patrick Geoghegan and his senior management team, SEPT successfully moved to the new Foundation Trust model.  Geoghegan opened the week’s training by encouraging participants to, “Think outside the box. And, think as leaders, not only as representatives of your organizations.” 

The training provided both didactic and experiential learning opportunities for managers to learn about and to practice contemporary management tools.  These tools focused on areas such as leadership and change management, systems-based thinking, competitive strategy, quality improvements through process redesign, and financial and managerial accounting. The participants spent a significant portion of the week working in teams to solve a case study designed specifically for the program that addressed issues facing NHS managers today.  By employing their new tools and reaching decisions in a work group setting, teams culminated their weeklong efforts with lively presentations of their proposed case solutions.  Delegates also had the opportunity to reflect on improving their own leadership skills and techniques through a series of self-assessment activities.    

The training included sessions led by faculty members from both Yale’s Schools of Public Health and Management.  Faculty and staff included Dean Paul Cleary, Professor Elizabeth Bradley, Lecturer Marguerite Callaway, and Project Manager Avital Havusha of the School of Public Health and Associate Professor Brian Mittendorf from the School of Management.

In addition to members of the Yale and SEPT communities, participants in the training program came from a variety of NHS organizations including Strategic Health Authorities, Acute Care Trusts, Primary Care Trusts, Mental Health Trusts, and Commissioning bodies.  The multiple perspectives added to the depth of participants’ learning experiences during the week.

Yale and SEPT plan to continue their partnership with the prospects of developing follow-up professional development programs and designing a fellowship program. 

For further information, please contact Professor Elizabeth Bradley.

-Story by Avital Havusha