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Editorial
9 July 2021
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Leadership is not without its penalties

It has probably not escaped your notice that this week has been eventful, and that is not just a reference to the excitement of Euro 2020 - especially if you support England or Italy.

It began on Sunday 4 July with a low-key but much-deserved national day of thanks and recognition for the work of NHS staff, key workers and other dedicated individuals who have supported communities and the wider population through the past 18 months. This provided a fitting warm-up to the NHS’s 73rd birthday on Monday 5 July and possibly its proudest moment beyond initial inception; being awarded the George Cross by the Queen on behalf of a grateful nation, recognising all NHS staff past and present, across all disciplines and all four nations, for courage, leadership, service and duty in the face of huge challenge. If any selfless ‘body’ deserves this recognition, it is the NHS and its dedicated workforce.

However, within hours of the celebrations the official announcement of plans to remove lockdown restrictions from 19 July in England has generated an outcry across healthcare, including more than 100 doctors and scientists branding the decision as a “dangerous and unethical experiment”[1].

Leadership in interesting times will always be difficult, with decision-making fraught with dilemma and rarely achieving consensus. This decision is of course a political call, but certainly a risk. There appears to be little doubt that the sector should ready itself for increasing infections impacting on a battle-fatigued healthcare workforce that is still working flat-out to cover for long Covid sickness, as well as striving to reduce a backlog of five million routine operations.

Meanwhile, the new Health and Care Bill was laid before parliament on Tuesday 6 July, marking the next stage in the process since NHS England’s consultation on the white paper earlier this year. FMLM joins colleagues throughout the sector in welcoming its publication which formally sets out the provision for establishing Integrated Care Systems. Workforce planning and effective ICS leadership across the complex multi-layered systems remain issues of interest. Of course, there are opportunities with a new health secretary – with new and as yet unpractised powers over the NHS – and forthcoming new NHS England chief executive, but it also adds to the unknown in the uncharted, Covid-clouded territory ahead.

Wednesday 7 July brought further Euro 2020 excitement and the prospect of a large donation to the NHS if Gareth Southgate’s leadership and the England team do manage to ‘come home’ with the goods.

We remain optimistic, on all fronts.




[1] Gurdasani, Deepti., Drury, John., Greenhalgh, Trisha., Griffin, Stephen., Haque, Zubaida., Hyde, Zoe., et al. (July 7, 2021). Mass infection is not an option: we must do more to protect our young. The Lancet. Retrieved from https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0140-6736%2821%2901589-0

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