The new government has an ambitious ten-year plan to transform the NHS by shifting care closer to home and tackling the UK’s poor record on public health and prevention. But with multiple short-term challenges and little money to spend, ministers will need more than goodwill and good intentions if they’re to turn those ambitions into reality.

Agenda for Change, introduced 20 years ago, was supposed to put an end to inconsistency and unfairness in how NHS staff are paid. But staff shortages and tight budgets mean many staff are now graded below the level of the work they’re doing. It’s time to modernise the system, says Rhys McKenzie.

Doctor, comedian, broadcaster, writer, health campaigner and politician manqué, Dr Phil Hammond is now drawing up a manifesto to rescue the NHS and boost the nation’s health. On the eve of a watershed general election for the UK, he spoke to Healthcare Manager’s Matt Ross.

ELECTION 2024:We look at four looming trouble spots you won’t hear much about in the campaign.

ELECTION 2024:We look at what the experts say about six key challenges facing the NHS: waiting lists, workforce, social care, reform, buildings and technology. Do Labour or the Conservatives have the policies to meet them?

ELECTION 2024:As polling day nears, Jon Restell and Rhys McKenzie set out MiP’s agenda for the next government: supporting the workforce, stabilising the health and care system, boosting productivity and giving managers freedom to do their jobs.

Are managers always to blame for the poor working culture in the NHS, or is that just a convenient excuse for politicians who find the root causes of our problems too hard to solve?

Under pressure from political demands and relentless organisational change, many board-level NHS managers are feeling the effects of burnout and contemplating leaving the NHS, according to MiP’s ’Sounding Board’ of senior members and the union’s evidence to the pay review body.

Joining the Scottish health department weeks before the pandemic struck, Caroline Lamb found herself head of NHS Scotland within a year. She talks about the “intense and scary” experience of managing through the Covid crisis, her plans to integrate services and tackle staff shortages and why Scotland needs more money for health and care.

A growing army of academics and local leaders say thinking long-term and giving power to local people and staff is the key to saving the NHS and other struggling public services. But are our national politicians listening?