Sharing executives across struggling providers can lead to leadership teams becoming “stretched and therefore less effective”, NHS England has acknowledged according to HSJ.
The point has been made in revised NHSE instructions to help boards rate their own capability, which they have been asked to review and submit for a second year.
When a trust is struggling on this metric, and on performance, it can be placed into segment five of the oversight framework league tables, which involves mandated support.
The findings will be used to decide NHSE’s oversight of trusts, and seeks to encourage “an open culture of ‘no surprises’ between trusts and oversight teams”, according to the updated rules issued last week.
In a new section that did not appear in last year’s guidance, NHSE states: “We note that, in some cases, separate statutory organisations share a common senior executive team, in either a group or other shared leadership model. Having a common executive team should not automatically mean a shared capability rating.
“Shared leadership across multiple trusts may result in executive teams being stretched and therefore less effective, particularly at more challenged providers. Consequently, oversight teams will assess capability on a standalone basis at each organisation in question.”
Date: 5 August