Becoming active in the micro-politics of healthcare re-organisation: The identity work and political activation of doctors, nurses and managers.

The changing organisation and governance of healthcare work represents a persistent focus of micro-politics. Whilst there is a developed literature describing the micro-political struggles that occur amongst healthcare occupations, there is little understanding about how, when and why actors become politically aware and active. Framed by research on political activation and the concept of identity work, this paper reports on a narrative interview study with 65 people, specifically doctors, nurses and managers, working in the English healthcare system.

New and emerging technology for adult social care - the example of home sensors with artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

Background: Digital technology is a focus within the NHS and social care as a way to improve care and address pressures. Sensor-based technology with artificial intelligence capabilities is one type of technology that may be useful, although there are gaps in evidence that need to be addressed.

Objective: This study evaluates how one example of a technology using home-based sensors with artificial intelligence capabilities (pseudonymised as 'IndependencePlus') was implemented in three case study sites across England.

What can clinical leaders contribute to the governance of integrated care systems?

Background: Integrated care systems present enduring governance challenges associated with fostering interorganisational collaboration.

Aim: To understand how clinical leaders can make a distinct contribution to the governance and system leadership of integrated care systems.

Methods: A qualitative interview study carried out between 2018 and 2019 with 24 clinical leaders, and a further 47 non-clinical leaders, involved in the governance of three Sustainability and Transformation Partnership in the English National Health Service.

Acquiring and developing healthcare leaders' political skills: an interview study with healthcare leaders.

Background: Research suggests health and care leaders need to develop a distinct set of political skills in order to understand and manage the competing interests and agenda that characterise health and care services.

Aim: To understand how healthcare leaders describe the acquisition and development of political skills with the aim of providing evidence for leadership development programme.

Methods: A qualitative interview study was carried out between 2018 and 2019 with 66 health and care leaders located within the English National Health Service.

Navigating the micro-politics of major system change: The implementation of Sustainability Transformation Partnerships in the English health and care system.

Objective: To investigate how health and care leaders navigate the micro-politics of major system change (MSC) as manifest in the formulation and implementation of Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships (STPs) in the English National Health Service (NHS).

Methods: A comparative qualitative case study of three STPs carried out between 2018-2021. Data collection comprised 72 semi-structured interviews with STP leaders and stakeholders; 49h of observations of STP executive meetings, management teams and thematic committees, and documentary sources.

Understanding the Political Skills and Behaviours for Leading the Implementation of Health Services Change: A Qualitative Interview Study.

Background: The implementation of change in health and care services is often complicated by organisational micro-politics. There are calls for those leading change to develop and utilise political skills and behaviours to understand and mediate such politics, but to date only limited research offers a developed empirical conceptualisation of the political skills and behaviours for leading health services change.

Methods: A qualitative interview study was undertaken with 66 healthcare leaders from the English National Health Service (NHS).

The contribution of political skill to the implementation of health services change: a systematic review and narrative synthesis.

Background: The implementation of strategic health system change is often complicated by informal 'politics' in healthcare organisations. Leadership development programmes increasingly call for the development and use of 'political skill' as a means for understanding and managing the politics of healthcare organisations. The primary purpose of this review is to determine how political skill contributes to the implementation of health services change, within and across organisations.

The contingencies of medical restratification across inter-organisational care networks.

The contemporary social organisation of medical work is characterised by internal hierarchies and stratification in the form of professional elites and managerial hybrids. This paper examines the changes in medical restratification brought about by the introduction of inter-organisational care networks. The study focuses in particular on the social position of doctors and the contingencies that enable or constrain intra-professional hierarchies across inter-organisational boundaries.

Implementing human factors in clinical practice.

Objectives: To understand whether aviation-derived human factors training is acceptable and useful to healthcare professionals. To understand whether and how healthcare professionals have been able to implement human factors approaches to patient safety in their own area of clinical practice.

Methods: Qualitative, longitudinal study using semi-structured interviews and focus groups, of a multiprofessional group of UK NHS staff (from the emergency department and operating theatres) who have received aviation-derived human factors training.