NHS Mutual: engaging staff and aligning incentives to achieve higher levels of performance

Since 1998, the NHS has launched many policy initiatives aimed at improving staff engagement. Despite some success, there is evidence that exhortation and guidance alone will not bring widespread changes to practice, and that ways for staff to participate formally in the running of their organisations should be explored.

NHS Mutual covers all the key issues, discusses them clearly and comes up with helpful policy conclusions.

Professor Jonathan Michie, President, Kellogg College, Oxford

NHS Mutual: Engaging staff and aligning incentives to achieve higher levels of performance considers how an employee ownership model could help drive staff engagement in the NHS. The authors conclude that there are at least five ways in which employee ownership can be fostered within the health service, and that the time is now right for the Government to support those willing to test different approaches.

NHS Mutual is important reading for health care leaders and policy-makers. It will also be of interest to researchers and academic institutions with an interest in this area, as well as all those concerned with improving staff motivation and reviewing the options for social ownership in the public sector.

An interesting and timely report, given current interest in this issue and in related HR policies.

Professor James Buchan, Queen Margaret University