Warwick Business School's Core Insights

Much like other healthcare systems around the world the UK's NHS is under the twin pressure of dwindling resources and rising demand from an aging population. Ian Kirkpatrick, Monash Professor of Healthcare Improvement & Implementation Science, has discovered through his research that the NHS needs more managers to alleviate this pressure. Listen to the reasons why. Read more on Professor Kirkpatrick's research: How many managers does the UK's NHS need? Six reasons why the NHS needs more managers  

As a business school academic it is not often possible to say that your research led directly to lives being saved. But Graeme Currie, Professor of Public Management at Warwick Business School, is one such academic who can say that. His research project with the National Health Service (NHS) in England demonstrated how it is possible to overcome many of the barriers that prevent the spread of good practice from frontline services to other parts of an organisation. In an ideal organisation, knowledge about good practice and good practice innovation would make its way from wherever it originates, often at the frontline of service provision, to the parts of the organisation where it is useful. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case. And, while in most organisations a failure to disseminate innovation and good practice might have a negative impact on profits, business development and competitiveness, in some organisations - like hospitals - it can mean the difference between life and death. Core Insights host Trevor Barnes talks to Professor Currie and Dr Alice Turner, Reader and Consultant in Respiratory Medicine at the University of Birmingham, about how insights from management and operations research can help overcome this acute problem and ultimately save lives. Read more on Professor Currie's research here.  Dont forget to subscribe to the show!