The Francis Report will be making a number of recommendations today; already announced by the Prime Minister today is the creation of a new Chief Inspector of Hospitals.

Mike Farrar, the NHS Confederation Chief Executive, said today

“The risk, I think, today is that we look at external things, like better regulation or more inspection, to try and solve what effectively is a problem that can really be only solved by having a culture in every hospital where every member of staff is geared up to try and provide the best possible care for patients.”

I completely agree with this statement but suggest we need to consider how we achieve this ‘culture’.

Our research and development over recent years suggest that leadership development, based on our new principles of self-leadership, has a real impact in changing this culture and gives the skills and confidence to professional staff to exercise appropriate professional judgement by helping them to think clearly under pressure.

Leadership development such as this, which has built-in assessment to ensure the learning has made a difference to practice and that this impact can be measured and seen, coupled with measures to ensure appropriate levels of staffing and a higher proportion of qualified staff, are surely the key to ensuring that all health care is delivered in a culture where the primary goal is to deliver the best possible care for patients.