The Health and Social Care Secretary has said the NHS needs to look to the fast-food chair McDonald’s as an example.
The NHS needs to look to McDonald’s as an example on how to improve its leadership and management structure, says Matt Hancock the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.
Mr Hancock said; “look at McDonald’s, for example: they’re nowhere near as important as the NHS. What they do is spectacularly less complex. Yet they start leadership training at shift manager level. They drive leadership training through every level of their company.”
“Restaurant managers learn how to develop a culture of continuous improvement, how to hold their teams and themselves accountable and how to apply best practice to their outlet. General managers learn how to create and execute business plans and analyse and improve performance.”
Mr Hancock went on to praise the variety of training offered to McDonald’s employees; “there’s apprenticeships, university degrees, a leadership institute and accelerated leadership development programmes.”
“All that training – just to sell more burgers.”
Speaking at the King’s Fund annual conference, the Mr Hancock added: “At the moment, we do not have enough leaders.”
“There’s a lot that the NHS can teach others, but that doesn’t mean that we should be complacent. Look at what McDonald’s does.”
“Can we honestly say we place as much time and effort and importance on identifying and supporting leaders? That we value it?”
“Surely a lifesaving business requires as much emphasis on leadership as the fast food business.”
Before finally adding; “we must embrace better training, tech leadership, and diversity of thought. Because the NHS is changing, society is changing, expectations are changing.”