Mackey: regulation of NHS managers ‘is coming’

A national NHS leader has said regulation of managers ‘is coming’, and the service should ‘just go with it and make it as effective’ as possible.

Sir Jim Mackey, national director for elective recovery and the chief executive of Northumbria Healthcare Foundation Trust, also told HSJ that regulation could offer better “protection” for management staff if implemented properly.

NHS England is considering additional regulation of NHS management after being asked to “revisit” the idea by health and social care secretary Steve Barclay in the wake of the murder of babies by nurse Lucy Letby at the Countess of Chester Hospital.

In an interview with HSJ, Sir Jim said: “Honestly, I think it’s coming. So we just need to go with it and make it as effective as it can be. It’s completely understandable in the current context for politicians and the public to want people in these positions to be regulated.”

He continued: “There’s potentially some protection for people in being regulated in an effective way, as well as [being subject to] clear rules, clear processes. If somebody makes an allegation and it’s found to be wrong [and] you’ve been through a thorough regulatory process, it’s going to help you to move on and put it behind you.”

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Source: HSJ, 18 September 2023