Doctor, comedian, broadcaster, writer, health campaigner and politician manqué, Dr Phil Hammond is now drawing up a manifesto to rescue the NHS and boost the nation’s health. On the eve of a watershed general election for the UK, he spoke to Healthcare Manager’s Matt Ross.

ELECTION 2024:We look at four looming trouble spots you won’t hear much about in the campaign.

ELECTION 2024:We look at what the experts say about six key challenges facing the NHS: waiting lists, workforce, social care, reform, buildings and technology. Do Labour or the Conservatives have the policies to meet them?

ELECTION 2024:As polling day nears, Jon Restell and Rhys McKenzie set out MiP’s agenda for the next government: supporting the workforce, stabilising the health and care system, boosting productivity and giving managers freedom to do their jobs.

Joining the Scottish health department weeks before the pandemic struck, Caroline Lamb found herself head of NHS Scotland within a year. She talks about the “intense and scary” experience of managing through the Covid crisis, her plans to integrate services and tackle staff shortages and why Scotland needs more money for health and care.

With ambitious plans but little money to spend, a Labour government will need the skills, nerve and insight of managers to make its promise of a ‘decade of renewal’ in the NHS a reality.

Latest figures show black and minority ethnic staff in the NHS are still denied the same opportunities for promotion and career development as white colleagues. We investigate why a public service that’s more diverse than ever before is still failing to root out race discrimination.

We need to challenge the widely-held belief that all-powerful managers are blocking change in the NHS. It’s a lack of empathy for the difficult choices and hard realities that managers face which is holding us back.

The social care shake-up in Scotland will affect the lives of more than a million people and could have far-reaching repercussions for local government and the NHS. But are the reforms missing the point?

For most NHS managers, unfair criticism is like water off a duck’s back. But the denigration and devaluing of management does real damage to the NHS. Here’s how MiP plans to take on the manager-bashers and promote a positive view of the vital work managers do.