The practice of collaborative leadership: Across health and care services (King's Fund, 18 July 2023)

Summary

The health needs of the population are changing, and many people need more co-ordinated care across primary, community, social and hospital services. More co-ordinated care requires organisations and staff to collaborate well across organisational and professional boundaries,

Content

This King's Fund report draws on interview and survey data from senior leaders working in integrated care boards, NHS providers, local government and the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector, and shares insights and evidence about how to collaborate well.

The research shows health and care leaders at all levels have a critical role in modelling and rewarding collaborative behaviours but this is insufficient on its own. Leaders also need to pay attention to six leadership practices if they want to build a stronger collaborative ethos.

This style of working is hard especially in a resource-constrained environment. The report recommend leaders give greater attention to designing more participatory processes and developing the collaborative skills of other groups of staff.

Given the pace of change and disruption needed to solve many of the problems facing our health and care system, we recommend leaders extend the practice of collaborative leadership to work with a broader range of local organisations as well as local communities.