With typical candour, expert knowledge, common sense and humour, Ruth told tales and highlights from her 40-year career as a leader in the NHS. She also shared her perspectives on leadership, work/life balance and the future of healthcare.
Ruth gives her thoughts on:
- driving the reconfiguration of stroke care in London in the face of political, clinical and public opposition
- scaling a literal ladder each payday in her first NHS job as a finance trainee at St. Mary’s in Paddington
- being ‘abolished’ at least 10 times, driving her to start her own management consultancy after the abolishment of NHS London, the strategic health authority, in 2013
- tackling the challenge of being a woman in NHS leadership when it was very rare – such as navigating difficult questions in interviews for her first role as a Finance Director
- becoming a twitter sensation with her top 10 insights about resilience in leadership
- what the NHS can do to prevent more leaders from failing (providing more support and space to grow for individuals new to challenging roles)
- tackling primary care innovation and tearing down barriers
- the relationship between quality and regulators and what should be done about it
- her hope that there is a growing political consensus that more money for health and social care is needed
- her anticipation of the potential impact of the forthcoming report on healthcare from Lord Ara Darzi, produced with support from CF
The HealthChat is still available to watch here
