Self‐governance and Cultural Change in NHS Hospitals

Abstract

Fundamental hospital management reforms, enacted in 1990, focus on competition for National Health Service (NHS) contracts between public and private hospitals and the option of self‐governing trust status for NHS hospitals. The need to challenge the status quo in the NHS is discussed. Initiatives leading to self‐governance are reviewed. The Freeman Hospital′s model for the cultural change which is prerequisite to self‐governance is presented. The Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, a national pilot site selected by the NHS Management Executive to develop new management systems and practices, is among the first self‐governing hospital trusts in the NHS.