Managers fear ‘unfair’ professional regulation

More NHS managers support regulation of their roles than oppose it, despite many fearing its implementation will be unfair or disproportionate, a survey suggests. 

The trade union Managers in Partnership surveyed NHS managers working at Agenda for Change band 8a and above throughout the UK late last year, collecting 291 responses.

Asked whether they “in principle… support professional regulation of NHS managers”, 49% said they supported or strongly supported it. Just 19% said they opposed or strongly opposed, while the remainder were neutral.

However, respondents – 22% of whom said they were already covered by a professional regulator, and likely to be nurses, doctors or finance or legal professionals – appeared sceptical about the benefits. 

Asked whether they thought professional regulation of NHS managers would make processes for raising concerns/whistleblowing better or worse, only 26% said it would be better. 20% said these would get worse, and the remainder said it would be “about the same”. 

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Source: HSJ, 9 January 2023