Leadership & culture in healthcare

“Leadership and Culture in Healthcare – Clinical Leadership with Andrew HodgeHost Matthew Winn interviews Andrew Hodge, Director of Paramedicine at a UK ambulance service, about clinical leadership, professional identity, and system-wide working in the NHS.⸻Executive SummaryAndrew Hodge describes the emergence of clinical leadership within paramedicine as a turning point for the profession. He explains how the creation of board-level paramedic roles has given the profession a strategic voice within organisations traditionally dominated by medicine and nursing.His leadership journey reflects a career deliberately broadened across multiple parts of the NHS — from frontline paramedicine to commissioning, clinical governance, patient safety, and consultancy roles. This system-wide experience has shaped his leadership style and belief in openness, learning culture, and multi-professional teamwork.Hodge highlights that real leadership influence increases at executive level, where it becomes easier to shape strategy, represent the profession, and integrate paramedicine into wider pathways of care. He stresses that leadership now extends beyond ambulance services into primary care, hospitals, mental health, and prisons, positioning paramedics as system-wide clinicians rather than just emergency responders.Culturally, he champions transparency, learning from incidents, professional respect, and integrated working. He sees the future of paramedicine embedded in neighbourhood teams, urgent care hubs, and cross-organisational models — where flexibility, collaboration, and system leadership are key.⸻Leadership ThemesClinical Leadership = Professional VoiceParamedics finally have representation at executive level, shaping decisions affecting the profession and patient care.Leadership Through Breadth, Not Just PromotionHodge’s influence comes from wide system experience — ambulance services, primary care, commissioning, governance, and consultancy.Culture Is Built Through Learning & TransparencyPatient safety, openness, and reflection are foundational leadership responsibilities.From Profession to System LeaderLeadership today is not just about leading paramedics — it’s about leading across systems and organisations.Multi-professional Working Is the FutureEffective care comes from integrated teams, not professional silos.⸻Key Quotes on Leadership & Culture (verbatim)On professional leadership and representation“At one time there was no chief paramedic on a board representing the profession.”“It’s been a really important development… to have a chief paramedic on a board.”“The role is to be the voice of the profession.”⸻On leadership at executive level“It’s been a lot easier… at exec level with directors to kind of just be alongside them, shaping it as you go.”“I’ve got the opportunity to represent us and put things forward and try to steer the direction of travel for our profession.”⸻On culture, learning and transparency“Working on that serious incident agenda and how we learned from incidents and develop openness and transparency.”“That was nothing to do with being a paramedic — it was just really good experience to be in a different part of the system.”⸻On leadership as influence, not position“The crossroads between clinical practice, leadership, research, education, supervision… that influenced the organisation in my small way felt really important.”⸻On multi-professional teamwork“Multi-professional working — that is much better.”“If we can do that going forward as part of an integrated neighbourhood health team… that would really help the system and patients.”⸻On future vision and culture change“What excites me… is having more flexibility to go into different settings.”“That would be really good for our profession — but it actually would really help us help the system and patients and partners much easier as well.”⸻On leadership growth“Learning to be on a board has been one of the steepest learning curves I’ve ever had.”⸻Final Leadership Takeaways • Leadership grows through experience across systems, not just promotion. • Culture is led through visibility, honesty, and learning from failure. • Professional influence changes when clinicians sit at board level. • Integration, not siloed working, is the future of healthcare leadership. • Clinical leaders must balance profession-first thinking with system responsibility. Matthew Winn, podcast host and an experienced leader in healthcare in the UK.

Podcast Summary – Leadership and Culture in Healthcare with Dr Steve TurnerHost Matthew Winn speaks with Dr Steve Turner, consultant paediatrician and President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), about leadership, responsibility, and building a culture that supports children, clinicians, and the wider health system.⸻Who is Dr Steve Turner? • Consultant paediatrician in Aberdeen since 2003, originally from Blackburn. • Works across general paediatrics, respiratory medicine, research and national leadership. • President of RCPCH and Vice Chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges. • Continues to practise clinically, running clinics each week.“I’m first and foremost a clinician… it would be difficult to do the role if you weren’t experiencing life as a clinician.”⸻What the College DoesThe RCPCH has four main functions: 1. Setting training standards for paediatricians. 2. Setting care standards for children and young people. 3. Advocating for the paediatric workforce. 4. Advocating for children and young people.The College has over 25,000 members and is explicitly multi-professional, reflecting that child health depends on whole teams, not just doctors.“We didn’t become the Royal College of Paediatrics — we became the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.”⸻The Role of PresidentTurner describes leadership in the College as enabling connection rather than control.“I don’t see myself at the top of a triangle — I see myself at the heart of a circle.”His role includes: • Representing the College publicly. • Advocating for clinicians and patients. • Bridging understanding between clinicians, professional staff, and politicians.“People who aren’t doctors don’t understand what doctors do … and why would they? Part of the role is explaining the reality of clinical life.”⸻Leadership Style and PhilosophyKey leadership principles highlighted in the discussion include:Connection Over Control“My job is connecting people.”Leadership is about enabling relationships and communication, not hierarchy.Authentic Clinical Leadership“You’ve got to be experiencing life as a clinician.”Credibility comes from staying grounded in real patient care.Creating a Risk-Taking CultureAs reflected in Matthew’s closing comments, Turner’s leadership message is about psychological safety:“The challenge is about risk-taking culture.”Healthcare leaders must move away from fear-based cultures toward learning and improvement.Collective Leadership“Leaders, managers and clinicians must work together.”Strong organisations depend on trust across professional boundaries.⸻Children at the Centre of LeadershipTurner emphasises that leadership in healthcare must prioritise prevention, early support and long-term outcomes for young people.“We need to invest early in the life course.”Matthew reinforces this:“Twenty-five percent of the population are our future — and they need fabulous futures.”⸻Closing MessageThe conversation concludes on a hopeful and human note — that leadership should feel positive, not punishing.“We need regular fist-bump moments for all.”This reflects Turner’s belief that leadership should energise teams, celebrate progress, and keep children firmly at the centre of decision-making. Matthew Winn, podcast host and an experienced leader in healthcare in the UK.

Matthew Winn in conversation with Tony YoungMatthew Winn interviews Tony Young, a clinician and national leader in healthcare innovation, about his career, leadership mindset, and how he manages multiple senior roles across healthcare, academia, and business.Tony explains that he is a consultant urological surgeon at Southend Hospital, Associate Medical Director for Innovation and Transformation, National Clinical Director for Innovation at NHS England, and Chair of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Anglia Ruskin University. He is also a non-executive director of an investment trust to better understand how finance, governance, and investment work outside the NHS.Early in his career, Tony founded four companies as a junior doctor, raising £5 million and exiting each business. This entrepreneurial journey was not smooth—he nearly lost his home—but it gave him invaluable insights into risk, failure, and innovation. These experiences shaped his belief that healthcare must learn from business, and that systems change happens when clinicians engage with entrepreneurship and leadership beyond medicine.Matthew challenges Tony on how he balances so many senior roles. Tony explains that the answer lies not in time management but in self-knowledge. His leadership transformation came through executive coaching, arranged by his former NHS England director, Ian Dodge, and particularly through coaching with Dame Una O’Brien, former Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health. Coaching helped Tony understand his internal “operating system” – how his mind works, how assumptions form, and how emotions and beliefs influence leadership behaviour.Tony also draws on neuroscience and psychology, especially the thinking of Robert Kegan (author of Immunity to Change), to explain that leaders often struggle not because of workload but because of misalignment between their actions and their values. Once he became clear about his core values, he learned how to structure his working life around them.He explains that when your work aligns with your values, you gain a sense of clarity, speed, energy, and resilience. For Tony, these values include equity, justice, creativity, education, family, community, and autonomy. Because all his roles express the same values, they reinforce each other rather than compete for energy.⸻Key Leadership Quotes“Not being normal, being a bit crazy, being on the edge – that’s where change happens.”“I nearly lost my house. I learned a lot about business the hard way.”“Coaching felt like a luxury for my mind.”“I learned how my ‘operating system’ works – and why I think the way I think.”“If you live according to your values, you can work at speed and scale.”“When your work aligns with your values, your mind becomes super-efficient.”“I don’t manage multiple jobs. I live one life in different expressions.”“Healthcare is actually a very safe system compared to how the City works.”⸻Leadership TakeawaysSelf-awareness is more important than time managementHigh performance is not about squeezing more hours into the day; it comes from understanding yourself, your motivations, and your mental patterns.Coaching is not a luxury—it is leadership infrastructureAccess to high-quality coaching enables leaders to reflect, grow, and avoid burnout. It’s not weakness; it’s strategy.Innovation happens at the edgeTony’s career shows that progress in healthcare often comes from people willing to cross boundaries between medicine, business, and academia.Values create energyWhen your work reflects your personal values, you gain momentum rather than exhaustion.Failure is a leadership teacherNear-collapse in business taught Tony as much as success. Leadership maturity grows through challenge.Think cross-sectorUnderstanding how money, governance, and investment work outside healthcare helps leaders build better systems inside healthcare.Align roles around purpose, not statusMultiple jobs only work if they serve one unifying mission. Matthew Winn, podcast host and an experienced leader in healthcare in the UK.

Sarah Brampton has been on the CEO development programme for the past year and shares her motivations; insights and hopes for leadership and tackles the question - what kind of CEO do you want to be. Spoiler alert - it’s about leadership! Matthew Winn, podcast host and an experienced leader in healthcare in the UK.

The NHS aspiring chief executive programme develops leaders to be ready to take on accountable officer roles, through a structured development programme. Rachel Evans and Sean Fenwick share their insights into their development; motivation and aspirations. A great insight into our developing NHS leaders. Matthew Winn, podcast host and an experienced leader in healthcare in the UK.