‘Warts and all’ references for NHS leaders ‘may be attacked’
NHS England could have gone further to insist that errors and failures by senior NHS leaders are disclosed to future employers, according to the leading barrister who reviewed the NHS’s fit and proper person test (FPPT).
Tom Kark KC’s review of the FPPT was delivered to government five years ago and made public the following year, and changes were finally proposed by NHSE earlier this month.
In an interview with HSJ, Mr Kark said he broadly welcomed the plans, and that the revised framework should provide greater consistency across NHS boards “if applied correctly”; and could “strengthen the hand” of chairs and chief executives.
Part of the purpose of the regime is to prevent senior managers and other board members who make big errors in one role, from keeping this secret from a future employer.
Mr Kark told HSJ he had heard evidence that when “someone leaves under a cloud, they pop up somewhere else, and the information is lost.”
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Source: HSJ, 16 August 2023