Patients, clinicians and managers all want to be reassured that their healthcare organisation is safe. But there is no consensus about what we mean when we ask whether a healthcare organisation is safe or how this is achieved. In the UK, the measurement of harm, so important in the evolution of patient safety, has been neglected in favour of incident reporting. The use of softer intelligence fo...

there remains a conviction that the torrent of publications and the financial outlay on leadership development will create managers with the skills and characters of perfect leaders, capable of guiding healthcare organisations through the challenges and crises of the 21st century. the focus of much attention continues to be the search for the (illusory) core set of heroic qualities, abilities o...

There remains a conviction that the torrent of publications and the financial outlay on leadership development will create managers with the skills and characters of perfect leaders, capable of guiding healthcare organisations through the challenges and crises of the 21st century. The focus of much attention continues to be the search for the (illusory) core set of heroic qualities, abilities o...

This paper reports on a secondary analysis of a previously completed case study that aimed to investigate knowledge sharing (KS) in Chinese hospitals. Specifically, the secondary analysis aims to identify, qualify and theorise external barriers that prevent and hinder patient-centred KS in healthcare organisations. The analysis revealed that healthcare KS is strongly influenced and hindered by ...

Across the world, healthcare organisations are implementing radical change strategies in the face of unprecedented financial challenge. In this context, a focus on building capacity and capability for improvement is a key strategy. Global analysis shows that the most common characteristic of healthcare organisations that deliver outstanding performance in cost and quality is a systematic approa...

Organisational sociology has long accepted that mistakes of all kinds are a common, even normal, part of work. Medical work may be particularly prone to error because of its complexity and technological sophistication. The results can be tragic for individuals and families. This paper describes four intrinsic characteristics of organisations that are relevant to the level of risk and danger in ...

Organisational sociology has long accepted that mistakes of all kinds are a common, even normal, part of work. Medical work may be particularly prone to error because of its complexity and technological sophistication. The results can be tragic for individuals and families. This paper describes four intrinsic characteristics of organisations that are relevant to the level of risk and danger in ...