Time for a specific focus on adult social care leadership
Simon Bottery. Senior Fellow, Social Care
If it fully delivered on its huge brief, the review of leadership in health and social care led by General Sir Gordon Messenger (alongside Dame Linda Pollard) would be the first detailed examination of social care leadership in England there has ever been. There have been leadership development programmes, to be sure, but a review that looks to ‘improve processes and strengthen the leadership’ of social care in England? One that ‘will shine a light on the outstanding leaders’ in social care to ‘drive efficiency and innovation’? Not in the memory of anyone I know working in social care.
In truth, of course, the review will do no such thing. Given its short time scale, and despite an extensive engagement exercise (including with The King’s Fund), it will focus on the NHS and, even there, pick its targets with precision. The signs are that it will at least avoid falling into the worst trap: identifying coherent recommendations for parts of the NHS and then assuming that they will also apply to social care (what I call ‘and-social-care-itis'). Instead it is likely to acknowledge the differences between social care and NHS, pay homage to the leaders in the sector and – perhaps – identify one or two recommendations that could apply to social care. It will not, however, be a root and branch review of social care leadership. It will not provide a road map for improving social care leadership to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, who commissioned it, or the Department of Health and Social Care, which will be expected to act on its recommendations.