Minister of Reconstruction, 1943-1945

2020 ◽  
pp. 231-266

The remaining diary extracts and correspondence, thematically arranged, with extensive footnotes identifying newspaper coverage of Woolton’s policies and actions on moving to set up and manage the new Ministry of Reconstruction. Woolton ceased keeping his Diary on moving to Reconstruction, but in the few diary entries he made covering the period of transition, his entries reveal his emotions on leaving the Ministry of Food and his opinion of his successor, as well as some indication of the reactions of Ministry staff in London and Colwyn Bay on his departure. Also briefly covered is the initial sense of challenge in establishing the new Ministry. These entries and his correspondence reveal Woolton’s thinking about the role of the new Ministry, and his own one as Minister. What is also revealed is his consciousness of the importance of the Ministry and the Minister acting as a non-party forum for the discussion of post-war reconstruction. His relations with Churchill and Attlee, and his continuing (if low key) engagement with the public are also revealed. The chapter reveals the evolution of the key cross-party white papers outlining plans for post-war reconstruction, including the wartime white paper on a future National Health service.

2005 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 660-668 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Newdick

Most now recognize the inevitability of rationing in modern health care systems. The elastic nature of the concept of “health need,” our natural human sympathy for those in distress, the increased range of conditions for which treatment is available, the “greying” of the population; all expand demand for care in ways that exceed the supply of resources to provide it. UK governments, however, have found this truth difficult to present and have not encouraged open and candid public debate about choices in health care. Indeed, successive governments have presented the opposite view, that “if you are ill or injured there will be a national health service there to help; and access to it will be based on need and need alone.” And they have been rightly criticized for misleading the public and then blaming clinical and managerial staffin the National Health Service (NHS) when expectations have been disappointed.


Curationis ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Ehlers

A committee was set up in Britain in 1975 under the Chairmanship of Mrs Peggy Jay to look into the staffing of mental handicapped residential care in the National Health Service. Part of the task was to consider the Briggs Committee’s recommendation that “… a new caring profession for the mentally handicapped should emerge gradually”. The findings and recommendations of the committee were however radical and far-reaching, involving an enormous shift in financial resources and causing much concern and outcry from the nursing profession which considered the new category of care given as a threat to their existence.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (18) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Matt Melia

While much has been written on post war British film and television comedy, there has been no critical focus on one of its key sub-genres – the medical comedy. This article aims to fill (at least some) of the gap in this scholarship. It chooses to focus on how several key medical comedies engaged the politics and ideological tensions of the fledgling National Health Service from the late 1950s to the 1980s. It will focus on the microcosmic representation of medical architectures and environments and consider how they provide spaces for political and ideological debate.


2020 ◽  
pp. 001872672093883
Author(s):  
Chidiebere Ogbonnaya ◽  
Mayowa T Babalola

Recent debates in healthcare have emphasized the need for more respectful and responsive services that meet patients’ preferences. These debates centre on patient experience, one of the most critical factors for measuring healthcare performance. In exploring the relevance of patient experience key questions need answers: what can managers or supervisors do to help improve the quality of healthcare? What is the role of employees? Addressing these questions, this study examines whether perceived supervisor support (PSS) promotes patient experience through a serial mediation involving perceived organizational support (POS), and positive employee outcomes such as engagement, involvement and advocacy. Using two-wave data from the British National Health Service, we show that PSS is strongly associated with POS, which in turn improves engagement, involvement and advocacy among employees. PSS also has a positive indirect influence on patient experience through POS and advocacy; but the indirect paths involving engagement and involvement are not supported. We offer useful guidance on how healthcare employers can support employees towards improving the quality of services rendered to patients.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joy Tweed ◽  
Louise M. Wallace

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to examine how Non-Executive Directors (NEDs) in the English National Health Service (NHS) commissioning bodies experienced their role and contribution to governance.Design/methodology/approachSemi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 31 NEDs of Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) and 8 Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) NEDs. Framework analysis was applied using a conceptualisation of governance developed by Newman, which has four models of governance: the hierarchy, self-governance, open systems and rational goal model.FindingsNEDs saw themselves as guardians of the public interest. NEDs’ power is a product of the explicit levers set out in the constitution of the board, but also how they choose to use their knowledge and expertise to influence decisions for, as they see it, the public good. They contribute to governance by holding to account executive and professional colleagues, acting largely within the rational goal model. CCG NEDs felt less powerful than in those in PCTs, operating largely in conformance and representational roles, even though government policy appears to be moving towards a more networked, open systems model.Originality/valueThis is the first in-depth study of NEDs in English NHS local commissioning bodies. It is of value in helping to inform how the NED role could be enhanced to make a wider contribution to healthcare leadership as new systems are established in the UK and beyond.


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