Tackling the Failures

31 August 2010

This report is by  Professor Ewan B Macdonald OBE from the University of Glasgow.

He says "For some time I have been concerned by the relative inefficiencies of the public sector, in the way it attempts to meet the needs of our population.  This has been informed by the work of my academic colleagues in the University of Glasgow and elsewhere, together with the innovative programmes being delivered by colleagues in the Salus service of NHS Lanarkshire and I am grateful for their influence on me.

I have also realised that major reorganisations and reorientation of the legions of the public sector are hard to achieve, and I propose instead that the way to achieve change is to create an overarching purpose for the welfare state which is to enhance and maintain the functional capacity (ie what they can do) of the individuals we serve. This concept is explained and the options for simple modifications to existing services are described.

It builds upon the Healthy Working Lives paradigm previously developed with Gabe Docherty of NHS Lanarkshire.

There is an evidence base to support all of the observations and recommendations in this paper, but rather than produce a lengthy academic text, this short document is aimed at informing the current discussions of policy makers."
 

Tackling the Failures