Learn from the public sector - not the private

摘要

When Jeremy Hunt asked former Marks and Spencer (M&S) chief executive Stuart Rose to review the leadership of the NHS he was following in distinguished footsteps. Both Edward Heath and Margaret Thatcher called frequently on the services of Derek Rayner, who like Rose, was chief executive of M&S. However, the process was not always fruitful. 'I remember Thatcher getting terribly excited about the need to copy M&S,' says former chief constable, Geoffrey Dear. 'So a board-level director from M&S came and spent a long time with us. But in the end he went away saying there is actually nothing f can contribute because you are answerable and accountable in so many different ways.' Mr Dear's experience should not surprise us. M&S employs 82,000 people, has an annual turnover of around £11bn, sells clothes and food and has a straightforward governance structure. By contrast the NHS employs 1.7 million people, spends £110bn annually, fixes the human body and has a complex matrix of governance. Jeremy Hunt should not expect too much from Stuart Rose.