A real job for managers in the health service

Developing an explicit strategy towards social responsibility in the NHS: a case for including NHS managers in this strategy

PURPOSE

To explore the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) within the UK National Health Service (NHS) and to examine how it may be developed to positively influence the psyche, behaviour and performance of NHS managers.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH

Primary research based upon semi-structured individual face to face interviews with 20 NHS managers. Theoretical frameworks and concepts relating to organisational culture and CSR are drawn upon to discuss the findings.

FINDINGS

The NHS managers see themselves as being driven by altruistic core values. However, they feel that the public does not believe that they share the altruistic NHS value system.

RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS

The study is based on a relatively small sample of NHS managers working exclusively in London and may not necessarily represent the views of managers either London-wide or nation-wide.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

It is suggested that an explicit recognition by the NHS of the socially responsible commitment of its managers within its CSR strategy would help challenge the existing negative public image of NHS managers and in turn improve the managers' self esteem and morale.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE

This paper addresses the relative lacunae in research relating to public sector organisations (such as the NHS) explicitly including the role and commitment of its staff within the way it publicises its CSR strategy. This paper would be of interest to a wide readership including public sector and NHS policy formulators, NHS practitioners, academics and students.

At the interface of health and community care: developing linkages between aged care services in a rural context

This paper explores issues concerning the development of linkages across the interface between acute and community aged care services in a small regional Australian city. It addresses a participatory action research project that took place over a 2 year period involving an Aged Care Assessment Team (ACAT). Aged Care Assessment Teams are multidisciplinary teams whose members mediate between hospitals and the aged care system in the community and have a key role in developing networks and linkages between various service providers in the field. In an age of economic rationalist-inspired reform agendas in health and community care, rural infrastructures have been compromised to such a degree that the role of rural ACAT in developing linkages between sectors has never been more important. This paper takes up this issue and addresses the project findings, which highlight a field characterised by ineffective linkages within and between the various sectors, a lack of understanding of the operation of the rural aged care system among nurses working in regional hospitals, and the efficacy of ACAT working collaboratively with nurses to create new and more effective linkages in aged care.