Professor Rudd was the national stroke director from 2013 until last year. Before that he oversaw a major overhaul of stroke services in London, where he was regional clinical lead, and a long-serving consultant at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospitals.

He shares hard-hitting reflections and suggestions from his time at the centre of service reform in an interview with HSJ editor Dave West.

You can listen below, or subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all the other popular podcast platforms.

Professor Rudd’s messages include:

  • The link between hospitals and care services has been getting worse not better — it’s time to deliver integration;
  • The NHS has failed to shift spending — and research — away from acute care;
  • Community hospitals should be closed to invest elsewhere;
  • Businesses would fail if they copied the NHS’s inadequate support for quality improvement and clinical data; and
  • The NHS has too much local freedom and decision making.

Professor Rudd remains a professor of stroke medicine at King’s College London. He has overseen development of stroke clinical guidelines, and the national stroke audit, for several decades.

Got feedback or something you would like us to discuss on HSJ Health Check? Contact dave.west@wilmingtonhealthcare.com or @davewwest.

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