Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Mar;104(3):113-9.
doi: 10.1258/jrsm.2011.110042.

Doctors who become chief executives in the NHS: from keen amateurs to skilled professionals

Chris Ham  1 , John Clark, Peter Spurgeon, Helen Dickinson, Kirsten Armit
Affiliations

Doctors who become chief executives in the NHS: from keen amateurs to skilled professionals

Chris Ham et al. J R Soc Med. 2011 Mar.

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate the experiences of doctors who become chief executives of NHS organizations, with the aim of understanding their career paths and the facilitators and barriers encountered along the way.

Design: Twenty-two medical chief executives were identified and of these 20 were interviewed. In addition two former medical chief executives were interviewed. Information was collected about the age at which they became chief executives, the number of chief executive posts held, the training they received, and the opportunities, challenges and risks they experienced.

Setting: All NHS organizations in the United Kingdom in 2009.

Results: The age of medical chief executives on first appointment ranged from 36 to 64 years, the average being 48 years. The majority of those interviewed were either in their first chief executive post or had stepped down having held only one such post. The training and development accessed en route to becoming chief executives was highly variable. Interviewees were positive about the opportunity to bring about organizational and service improvement on a bigger scale than is possible in clinical work. At the same time, they emphasized the insecurities associated with being a chief executive. Doctors who become chief executives experience a change in their professional identity and the role of leaders occupying hybrid positions is not well recognized.

Conclusions: Doctors who become chief executives are self-styled 'keen amateurs' and there is a need to provide more structured support to enable them to become skilled professionals. The new faculty of medical leadership and management could have an important role in this process.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

References

    1. Propper C, Sutton M, Whitnall C, Windmeijer F . Did ‘Targets and Terror’ Reduce Waiting Times in England for Hospital Care? The BE Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy 2008. ;8 :5 . See http://www.bepress.com/bejeap/vol8/iss2/art5
    1. Department of Health High Quality Care For All: NHS Next Stage Review final report. Cm 7432. London: The Stationery Office; 2008 - PubMed
    1. Department of Health Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS. Cm 7881. London: The Stationery Office; 2010
    1. Fitzgerald L, Lilley C, Ferlie E, Addicott R, McGivern G, Buchanan DA. Managing change and role enactment in the professionalised organisation. Report to the National Co-ordinating Centre for NHS Service Delivery and Organisation R&D (NCCSDO). London: NCCSDO; 2006
    1. Montgomery K. A prospective look at the specialty of medical management. Work and Occupations 1990;117:178–98

Publication types