NHS trusts should learn from John Lewis and consider benefits of mutual status, King’s Fund says

Abstract

More NHS organisations should be encouraged to become staff owned and staff led “mutuals” as a way of accelerating improvements in patient care, the King’s Fund has said. Changing the law could allow hospital trusts to adopt mutual status instead of becoming a foundation trust, said the fund’s review of staff engagement and empowerment in the NHS.1 Other new mutuals could be formed from partnerships providing more integrated health and social care and services such as urgent, maternity, or mental healthcare, the review said. The King’s Fund noted emerging evidence that mutuals delivered high levels of staff engagement and encouraged initiative and innovation, leading to better organisational performance. “We should be clearer about the scope for giving staff a stronger staff voice within the existing foundation trust model,” the review said. “This might include learning from the John Lewis Partnership and other successful mutuals on the mechanisms for recruiting staff representatives and supporting them in delivering their roles effectively.” Chris Ham, chief executive of the fund, said that a variety of …