The King's Fund podcast

How can we ensure that health and care staff from all backgrounds feel respected, valued and listened to at work? Siva Anandaciva sits down with Karen Bonner, Chief Nurse at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, to talk about the value of having a diverse workforce, and how we can make the health and care system fairer for staff, patients, and communities from ethnic minority groups. Related resou...

Jo Vigor speaks to Karen and Yvette, a couple who beautifully demonstrate the varied and essential role that unpaid care work plays in many relationships. As they share their story we learn what support they currently receive, and what could make a positive difference. Later in the episode, Jo is joined by Deborah Fenney to talk about our recent research in this area. Related resources Caring in a...

What is it like to be leading during this difficult and uncertain period for the NHS? Ruth Robertson sits down with Dr Fay Gilder, Medical Director of the Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust and Matthew Rice, one of our senior leadership consultants, to find out. Join us for a conversation about leadership, vulnerability and self-care. Related resources What is compassionate leadership? (long re...

Anna Charles speaks to Hilary Cottam OBE, internationally acclaimed social entrepreneur and author of Radical Help , about the importance of building new systems that are equipped to deal with the health challenges of today, and the need to foster 'horizontal' bonds between communities and public services. Related resources Lessons from the Wigan Deal  (project) A citizen-led approach to health an...

Is the NHS really full of 'overpaid pen pushers'? Jo Vigor talks to Dr Seema Srivastava, Deputy Medical Director at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust, Emma Challans-Rasool, Founder and Chair of the  Proud2bOps  operational network and Director of Organisational Development, Culture and Talent at Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care System and Rachel Burnham, Di...

What can data tell us about the health of our nation, and the state of the system meant to help us get better, and stay healthy? In this episode, Siva Anandaciva sits down with chief data reporter at the Financial Times, John Burn-Murdoch. Related resources The health policy year in review 2022 What's in store for health and care in 2023?

Is it possible to tackle climate change without further widening health inequalities? Jo Vigor speaks to Dr Dominique Allwood, Chief Medical Officer at UCL Partners and Director of Population Health at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, about her leadership journey, why clarity of mission is so important and the challenge of creating a sustainable and equitable health and care system. You can...

Anna Charles speaks to Torsten Bell, Chief Executive of the Resolution Foundation, Helen Barnard, Associate Director at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Marie Gabriel CBE, Chair of North East London Integrated Care System and Cormac Russell, Founding Director of Nurture Development, to find out how the cost-of-living crisis is impacting the nation's health and wellbeing, and what the health and car...

Stafford Scott talks about taking a 'constructively awkward' approach to community activism, how the NHS can become a 'national hearing service,' and challenges the next generation of leaders to embed themselves in communities and bring people together. Stafford is the Founder and Director of Tottenham Rights, a community-led initiative that addresses issues around social injustice and structural...

What needs to happen to make sure everyone gets the care and support they need as they approach the end of their lives? Ruth Robertson speaks to Lesley Goodburn, Professor Bee Wee CBE, John Powell MBE and Angie Arnold to find out more. Please note that this episode explores experiences of death and dying that may be distressing. If you've been affected by any of the issues raised in this podcase,...

What are the immediate health and care pressures the next Prime Minister will need to address once they're in post? Join host, Jo Vigor, and a panel of colleagues from The King's Fund: policy adviser, Charlotte Wickens; Head of Policy, Sally Warren and Senior Policy Fellow, Simon Bottery. Please note, this episode was recorded on 26 August 2022, before the announcement of the new leader of the Con...

What does it mean for public organisations to be 'of a place' and not just 'in a place'? What's the difference between 'thin' and 'thick' trust? New host Ruth Robertson talks with Professor Carolyn Wilkins OBE about leadership across local government and the NHS, cultivating a sense of a place, and how you can influence across local, regional and national levels. Related resources Communities and...

How does the health and care system respond when an asylum seeker, refugee or migrant arrives in England? Join host Siva Anandaciva and guests Dr Inês Campos Matos, Farisai Dzemwa and Kama Petruczenko as they discuss refugee and migrant health care. This episode was recorded before the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 came into force on the 28 June. Related resources:  How does the NHS in England...

From growing up in her parents' community pharmacy to leading the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out in general practice, Dr Nikki Kanani, Medical Director of Primary Care for NHS England and NHS Improvement, talks about the values at the heart of her leadership, the power of connection and community, and what general practice could look like for the next generation. Related resources Take part our podcast...

The latest NHS Staff Survey results paint a sobering picture of a workforce under intense pressure. Sally Warren, Director of Policy at The King's Fund, speaks to Annie Laverty, Chief Experience Officer at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and Steve Ned, Director of Workforce at Barnsley and Rotherham NHS Foundation Trusts, about the role of compassionate leadership in tackling the issue...

To mark International Women's Day, host Helen McKenna speaks with Professor Dame Lesley Regan and Dr Janine Austin Clayton about women's health journeys from start to finish. They explore why women can struggle to get medical professionals to listen to them and the impact this has on diagnosis and treatment, as well as the mental and physical effects on women themselves. Related resources: The Wom...

Andrea Sutcliffe CBE, Chief Executive and Registrar of the Nursing and Midwifery Council, talks with Helen McKenna about what it takes to cultivate safe, kind and effective care, getting regulation right, and what meaningful co-production with the public looks like. Related resources: The courage of compassion: Supporting nurses and midwives to deliver high-quality care (report) Covid-19: why comp...

Join us as we take a look over the year that was in health and care, 2021. Helen McKenna and Siva Anandaciva, two of The King's Fund's leading policy experts, review the key themes of 2021; Covid-19, waiting times and performance, the reform agenda, funding and the workforce. Related resources Our work on the legislative agenda for health and care reform (commentary and analysis) Integrated care s...

The Health and Care Bill could lead to major changes in how health care is organised in England. But what is the Bill ultimately trying to achieve and how will it make a difference to the care we receive? Siva Anandaciva sits down with Richard Murray, Chief Executive of The King's Fund, and Dame Ruth Carnall, former Chief Executive of the NHS in London, to make sense of the Bill, how these changes...

What are the risks of under-valuing unpaid carers? How can the health and care system better support them? Helen McKenna talks with Fatima Khan-Shah about her personal experience as a carer, her leadership journey, and the importance of being your authentic self at work. Fatima is Programme Director for Unpaid Carers and the Personalised Care Programme for West Yorkshire and Harrogate Integrated C...

The Covid-19 pandemic has put a spotlight on the public health system and the people who work in it like never before. Helen McKenna sits down with Matthew Ashton, Director of Public Health in Liverpool and Tracy Daszkiewicz, Deputy Director of Population Health and Wellbeing at Public Health England, to explore what they've learnt from their experiences during the pandemic and, at a time of refor...

People who identify as LGBTQ+ experience disproportionately worse health outcomes and have poorer experiences when accessing health services. Three years on from the Government's LGBT action plan, Helen McKenna sat down with Dr Michael Brady, National Advisor for LGBT Health at NHS England, and Michelle Ross, Co-Founder and Director of Holistic Wellbeing services at cliniQ to explore the health in...

Helen McKenna talks with Dr Bola Owolabi, Director of Health Inequalities at NHS England and NHS Improvement, about the NHS's spheres of influence, the power of gathering around a common cause, and whether the experience of the pandemic will lead to a step change in tackling health inequalities. Related resources What are health inequalities? Health inequalities: our position What is happening to...

What does the future of care delivery look like? Anna Charles talks with Dr Steven Tierney from Southcentral Foundation in Anchorage, Alaska, and Dr Henry Chung from Montefiore in New York, to explore how their health systems have transformed to better support local communities, and how to address digital exclusion in an increasingly digital world. Related resources Sign up: our mailing list on in...

Helen McKenna sits down with Suzie Bailey, Director of Leadership and Organisational Development at The King's Fund and Professor Michael West to explore the results of the 2020 NHS staff survey and discuss how the NHS can create an inclusive, compassionate, and supportive working environment for staff. Find out more Recovery and then renewal: the innovation imperative for health and care (blog) L...