Young Executive Leaders (YEL) who have proven outstanding merit in healthcare management can enjoy a chance of a lifetime to exchange with peers on capital healthcare issues as well as to interact with talented thought leaders from all around the world. Through the YEL programme, accepted applicants can join fellow young leaders from various parts of the world and build unique relationships by sharing experiences and by working together on a topic related to the 2020 World Hospital Congress (WHC). The programme ends in November at the WHC to be held 2-5 November 2020 in Barcelona, after which, participating YELs will join the growing YEL Alumni.

A joint initiative between ISQua and the Lucian Leape Foundation, the Lucian Leape Patient Safety Fellowship Award was established in 2018 with the objective of funding physicians and health care leaders in developing countries to advance and expand their expertise in patient safety, with the resultant improvement of the safety of patients in their local area. The fellowship is clinically-oriented, designed to provide the Leape Fellow with additional training in the theory of Patient Safety Science and interventions to improve patient safety.

With 2020 being off to a devastating start, AHHA continues its two-part series podcast on the bushfire effects on health and mental health. Featuring (part I) Sortiris Vardoulakis, Professor of Global Environmental Health at The Australian National University, College of Health and Medicine; and (part II) Dr Sebastian Rosenberg, Head of the Mental Health Policy Unit, Centre for Mental Health Research at The Australian National University, this special podcast of the AHHA explores the the damaging effects of recent bushfires upon the health and lives of Australians.

Alexandra joined the IHF Secretariat in early February as a Programme Manager of International Hospital Services. In this role, Alexandra leads the development of the IHF’s Innovation Hub, Global Mentoring Program and Women Executives’ Forum, whilst supporting the activities of the Federation’s CEO Circle and Special Interest Groups related to University- and Investor Owned- Hospitals.

With a background in local government and healthcare, prior to joining the IHF, Alexandra worked for the UK national health service (NHS England) and at The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Switzerland. Passionate about improving outcomes in healthcare, Alexandra has a Masters in Health Policy from Imperial College London and a demonstrated interest in achieving social change through volunteering (currently she is supporting Geneva’s Serve the City initiative).

The NHS Confederation is focused on supporting members – including hospitals, community and mental health providers, ambulance trusts, primary care networks and clinical commissioning groups – to deliver for patients and local communities. We do this in four ways:

• Inform members about the changing health and care landscape in a concise and accessible way.
• Represent the views of members, giving a voice to their expert knowledge and concerns at the highest levels.
• Influence the development of policy relevant to members through gathering feedback and engaging with decision makers.
• Support members to share ideas, insights and best practice, and by providing a platform for leaders to network and come together.

The NHS employs around 1.5 million people across the UK, making it the fifth largest employer in the world.

Health has been a devolved matter since 1999, with all four parts of the UK – England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland – entirely responsible for legislation and policy relating to health. As a result, while the NHS is based on common principles throughout the UK, the structure in each jurisdiction is distinctive. While health and social care is delivered within different legislative frameworks and structures, across the UK the NHS faces similar challenges.

Indirectly, though, ultimate responsibility for NHS funding could be said to reside with the UK parliament. As the NHS is financed mainly through taxation, it is the UK parliament which distributes funds to the Scottish parliament and the devolved assemblies, although how much of that is devoted to health is a matter for local determination.

As chief executive of the NHS Confederation, I lead an organisation which supports the United Kingdom’s most cherished institution: the National Health Service (NHS). We bring together and speak on behalf of organisations that plan, commission and provide NHS services in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Through our networks in England and our operations in Wales and Northern Ireland, we represent the wide variety of organisations in the NHS and as such, are well placed to articulate the interests of the healthcare system.

In England, we also run NHS Employers, a support service for NHS organisations who together form the nation’s largest employer. In addition, we have a small international team which focuses on the NHS’s links with other health systems and which operates the NHS’s European Office in Brussels, which has been concerned with EU legislation and more recently on the health implications of the UK’s decision to leave the EU.