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Lesley Curwen tracks the initial introduction of managers into the NHS and explores the responsibility that NHS leaders now shoulder for creating both good and bad cultures.

NHS culture has been condemned as "broken" and as "insidiously negative". Business journalist, Lesley Curwen, asks what NHS managers were doing when appalling patient care was happening on their watch.

In the first of two programmes, she tracks the initial introduction of managers into the NHS and explores the responsibility that NHS leaders now shoulder for creating both good and bad cultures.

Robert Francis QC spells out why he believes the primary cause of the scandal at Mid Staffordshire was management failure, and the clean-up executives, sent in to run the scandal hit Trust, describe the culture of denial that dominated when they arrived.

As the NHS adapts to the radical reforms of 2013 in the midst of unprecedented financial challenges, Lesley visits both struggling and thriving hospital Trusts to discover how their leaders and managers are trying to create positive and open cultures, where staff are supported to provide the very highest standard of care to patients.

Producer: Fiona Hill.

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28 minutes

Last on

Wed 18 Sep 2013 11:00

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  • Wed 18 Sep 2013 11:00

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Examining the NHS

A selection of Radio 4 programmes on the state of the health service.