NHS managers' views of their culture and their public image

Abstract

National Health Service (NHS) managers as change agents have been given the responsibility for the implementation of the NHS reforms and their views, beliefs and attitudes are therefore paramount to the effective and successful implementation of the reforms. A total of 28 managers from two acute care and one community care NHS Trusts in London were interviewed, after completing questionnaires, with a view to understanding their perceptions of the NHS managerial culture and also what they believed to be their public image. It appeared that managers generally believed that all NHS workers share altruistic core values and they thought that these core values had remained unchanged despite the previous and present reforms. The managers generally saw the recent NHS reforms as being compatible with this pan‐organisational altruistic culture; this should contribute positively towards their successful implementation. The managers, however, believed that the public did not see managers as being a part of this altruistic culture but at the same time they felt that this public view was misguided and unfair. Furthermore the managers do not appear to have allowed their perceived negative public perception to influence or shift their commitment to their altruistic values and ethos.