All articles by Sir Chris Ham
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CommentImproving performance means investing in managers
A new report argues that professionalising NHS management is essential for delivering the government’s 10-Year Health Plan, as public satisfaction hits record lows and workforce strain intensifies across the service
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CommentHow the NHS Assembly used its soft power to effect change
Created in 2019, the NHS Assembly united diverse perspectives from across health and care to support NHS England’s leadership and long-term vision
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CommentICBs are still needed
Cuts to ICB budgets and shifting roles risk undermining integrated care, but successful local models show how system leadership can still drive transformation in NHS services, writes Sir Chris Ham
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CommentNational priorities must not crowd out local initiatives
Wes Streeting seeks to drive NHS performance by shifting from top-down management to empowering staff and local teams. Sir Chris Ham explores what more will be required to support the hard work of delivering the 10-year health plan
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CommentWhat might ‘Starmerism’ mean for health and care?
Politicians must value and mobilise local community organisations to fill gaps left by cuts in services to improve health and social care, writes Sir Chris Ham
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CommentI helped write the last Labour 10-year NHS plan. Here’s what I learned
Labour’s proposed 10-year plan for the NHS echoes similar reforms enacted two decades ago during the Milburn era. Chris Ham, who served as the Department of Health’s policy director during that time, stresses the need for sustained commitment, and an awareness of political dynamics and resource constraints
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CommentPolitics and the NHS: can the link be broken?
Sir Chris Ham talks about the current crisis as a reflection of a political system dominated by short-term thinking and unwillingness to deal with long-term challenges
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CommentEstablishing proportionate accountability for integrated care systems
Partnership with local authorities and meaningful engagement with people and communities are the best way of ICSs earning a mandate to push back. By Chris Ham
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CommentICSs should focus on relationships as much as governance
Integrated care systems must combine the software of relationships with the hardware of governance, writes Sir Chris Ham
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CommentIntegration cannot be delivered if ‘NHS leaders are always looking up’
Places and systems must be the focus if local organisations are to successfully work together in a new spirit of collaboration rather than competition, write Chris Ham and Rob Webster
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CommentICSs need 'time and space' to work out how to meet local needs
The challenge ahead for STPs and ICSs is developing governance arrangements that are fit for purpose and align the goals of the latter with the duties of NHS organisations and their partners, notes Sir Chris Ham
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CommentThe case for strong systems and joined-up care
Chris Ham and Clare Gerada argue that partnership working, not legislation alone, is the key to improved health and integrated care
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CommentLockdown must be used to give councils the lead in contact tracing
The pandemic has shown that a constitutional reset is needed to avoid central government overreaching itself in the future, writes Chris Ham.
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CommentTesting and contact tracing: a role for local leaders
Local authorities must be at the heart of contact tracing because covid-19 is best understood as a pattern of local outbreaks rather than a national pandemic. By Sir Chris Ham and Robin Tuddenham.
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CommentIntegrated care systems could deliver ‘the triumph of the commons’
STPs and ICSs are beginning to show evidence of the benefits of self-organising as they take on greater oversight of NHS funding and performance and planning, writes Chris Ham
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CommentMove towards alternative approaches to NHS contracts
Aligned incentive or guaranteed income contracts shift the focus of providers to reducing waste and cost to achieve financial stability, notes Chris Ham
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CommentThe long-term plan's ambitions are credible and deliverable
There are many reasons to be cautious about whether the long-term plan can be delivered but there is hope that the NHS can rise to the challenge it has been set, writes Chris Ham
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CommentThe impact of integrated care systems
The long term NHS plan should set out a road map for the future and earmark resources to accelerate the improvements in health and care that ICSs are leading, writes Chris Ham
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CommentA new deal with the public
It’s time to revisit what people can expect from the NHS and what their obligations are in return, writes Chris Ham
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CommentIntegrated care has the potential to improve health outcomes
Chris Ham and Anna Charles outline the findings and recommendations of the health and social care committee’s review of integrated care development in the NHS