In brief
More than 150 senior doctors, health care leaders and policy makers joined an expert panel to debate whether or not doctors are neglecting their duty to lead health service change, at an event run jointly by the BMJ and The King’s Fund on 28 April 2009.
The event opened with a vote to see how many people agreed with the motion before the debate itself took place. The result from this was 63 per cent of people were in support of the motion and 37 per cent were against.
After a highly entertaining debate (listen below), the vote was taken again, where the motion was narrowly defeated by 49 per cent to 51 per cent.
Setting the context
Listen to the debate speeches (in order)
- Professor Alan Maynard proposes the motion, but says that clinical leaders also have responsibility to drive change (7 min 19 sec)
- Dr James Cave opposes the motion, saying that the NHS doesn't really want clinicians to lead, rather to just manage change (8 min 8 sec)
- Dr James Mountford proposes the motion, arguing that clinicians can be leaders in their own practices within the system (9 min 31 sec)
- Dr Mark Goldman opposes the motion, and urges people to not forget that the primary duty of doctors is to treat patients (6 min 26 sec)
Speakers
Chair
Dr Fiona Godlee, Editor in Chief of the BMJ, chaired the debate.
International speaker
There was also be a short introduction from Professor Richard Bohmer who is from Harvard Business School where he runs a joint medical and MBA programme and teaches on a medical management course
Proposers
The team proposing the motion that doctors are neglecting their duty to lead health service change were:
- Professor Alan Maynard, Professor of Health Economics, Department of Health Sciences, University of York
- Dr James Mountford, Healthcare Specialist, McKinsey
Opposers
The opposing team were:
- Dr James Cave, GP, Berkshire West Primary Care Trust
- Dr Mark Goldman, Chief Executive, Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust
