Leadership and culture in healthcare: cracking the code
Saturday 22 November 2025 09:30 to 14:00Speakers: |
John Drew, Regional Director of Workforce, Training and Education for NHS England |
Location: |
EP Abraham Lecture Theatre, Green Templeton College |
Demand for healthcare continues to grow faster than the workforce supply, which is usually also constrained by funding. These are challenges which most developed health systems face, and leads to a long-term challenge to improve productivity and innovate at scale. The ‘3 shifts’ in the NHS’ 10 Year Health Plan describe what it will take to bring this about, including introducing Neighbourhood Health systems. There is good evidence that delivering high quality care in a cost-effective way is enabled by a culture which is characterised by strong levels of staff engagement as an enabler of continuous improvement. If we know that, why is it so hard to bring about?
This interactive session will frame these issues, using examples and analysis from the NHS, and share good practices at organisational, team and individual level. By the end of the session participants will be able to:
- Explain the role of the leader in framing the challenge, describing the future state in a compelling way and the path to get there, and leading by example to role model the behaviours
- Identify the shifts in mindsets, capabilities and behaviours which are needed to sustain changes in processes and formal structures to deliver sustainable improvement in outcomes
- Apply a number of practical tools and frameworks to bring about a sustainable shift in behaviours
- Gain an insight into ways of improving individual and team effectiveness, including leadership teams
About the speaker
John Drew is Regional Director of Workforce, Training and Education for NHS England in the Midlands. The scope of John’s role includes all aspects of the people and workforce function across the NHS Midlands region, which employs nearly 300,000 people; workforce planning, training and education, workforce supply and transformation, talent management and culture.
In previous roles John was national Director of Staff Experience and Engagement at NHS England and Director of Improvement and Culture at Oxford University Hospitals, which included responsibility for People, Communication, Improvement and Analytics.
Prior to joining the NHS, John led McKinsey’s work with NHS hospitals in the UK as well as other international health systems. He trained as an engineer and worked in manufacturing industry before entering consultancy.
He is passionate about supporting people to bring about improvements in quality and productivity, as an essential part of high performing teams and organisations. He is increasingly of the view that the core assumptions we hold – and are often taught – about how organisations are run and what it takes to improve performance need to be challenged and updated. ‘Reinventing Organisations’ is recommended reading.
Registration
Please note that this session is currently fully booked. Please join the waiting list below to be notified if a space becomes available.
About the Management in Medicine Programme
The Management in Medicine Programme was developed to foster management and leadership skills for health and care systems in early-career professionals. Attendance is open to medical students, doctors in training, postgraduate students and others with an interest in the interaction between healthcare professionals, systems and management. For more information, or to be added to the mailing list, please email mim@gtc.ox.ac.uk
Type: Lectures and Seminars
