All articles by Kate Hall
-
HSJ KnowledgeDon’t pull so hard on the strings
A fresh approach to leadership is needed to better manage hospital services
-
HSJ KnowledgeAn under-the-lens examination
The quality governance framework must be used properly in trusts’ self-assessment
-
HSJ KnowledgeHow to ensure quality is kept in place
The quality governance framework is an excellent way of ensuring high-quality care is in place – the key is using it properly, writes Kate Hall.
-
HSJ KnowledgeHow a holistic approach to healthcare drives better value
Services are often fragmented across systems and even within organisations, causing waste. True value in healthcare, says Kate Hall, comes from smoothing patient pathways.
-
Blogs
The buck stops with you
We have a tendency to blame politicians, other people and systems and processes when something is difficult to deliver or perhaps when we need a reason to resist change. The cynics amongst us might suggest that it is easy to object if you just don't really like what is ...
-
HSJ KnowledgeLeading the line: how service line management can promote clinical excellence
Implementing service line management means recognising and promoting clinical leadership, says Monitor policy adviser Kate Hall.
-
Blogs
'Compassion doesn’t cost money'
How would we like to be treated as a patient? Would we like to be kept waiting without being updated? Would we like to hear people talking about us but not to us? Would we like to be cared for by someone not making any eye contact?
-
Blogs
A pinch of QIPP
Having a strategy isn’t that helpful if people then forget to communicate the strategy. Nor will adding the word QIPP to everything we do ensure we deliver. We are at risk of ticking the box but missing the point.
-
Blogs
Crisis management, disequilibrium and thermostats
‘Keep your hand on the thermostat. If the heat is too low people won’t make difficult decisions. If it’s too high, they might panic.’
-
Blogs
'Asking people to lead is one thing, actually leading is another'
In the last few years, rather than address what are clearly structural failings, the NHS has had money ploughed into it. I suspect the true level of the funding gap has been under egged and £15 – 20 billion is possibly a conservative estimate.
-
Blogs
Meeting the NHS spending challenge - on a wing and a prayer
You can own the best racing yacht money can buy. It can be the ideal weight, have the best gadgets and be the optimal structure but to win you need the right team. Unless people work together and want to win you won’t win.
-
Blogs
Daft or just too unpopular to contemplate?
Last time I checked people were still becoming unwell seven days a week.
-
Blogs
Push yourself to succeed, don't wait for someone to push you
Until you try you don’t always know what you are capable of achieving.
-
Blogs
NHS management vs NHS leadership
Management is often based on the response to yesterday’s questions and whilst some of the responses remain valid for the here and now a good many do not, they are out of date and little is achieved by walking backwards.
-
Blogs
NHS underperformers: shape up or ship out
I am not an ogre, I am not particularly harsh, I do not consider myself to be radical and I am not trying to be deliberately provocative but I do think that saying there will be no reduction in jobs is at best short sighted and at worst a lie.
-
Blogs
What does success look like?
Success doesn’t necessarily mean getting to the top. What is the top anyway? Top of what?
-
Blogs
'Sometimes the small has a huge impact on delivering bigger goals'
Don’t take your eye off the ball
-
Blogs
Ooooo I'm a leader!
Whilst it might be possible to hide poor leadership in good times, it is less possible when times are hard. When the pressure isn’t on people can get away with a certain amount of incompetence or bumbling, when the pressure is on there should be no room for incompetence or ...