Lessons from the history of reorganisation
Reorganising and restructuring have been common activities in the NHS over the last 20 years and are again on the agenda with the coalition Government in place and the scale of the financial challenge apparent. Some savings can undoubtedly be made from restructuring or merging management, back office and front line functions, but the inevitable loss of focus on delivery and delays in service improvements are hard to ignore.
Analysing the learning from previous experience is essential if we are to meet the major efficiency savings required and deal with the proposed changes to community services. This report looks at the available evidence about the pattern of reorganisation, why there’s so much of it and why it often fails, and outlines the important points to consider when reorganising services.