Roehampton Hospital Case Study [Part 1]

Please be aware that this is a FICTIONAL case study, there are no links whatsoever to NHS
institutions in and around Roehampton.

Case Scenario

Roehampton Hospital Trust can look back at a long-standing tradition of providing inclusive healthcare
to local communities across South-West London.

Like many other NHS trusts – Roehampton is a publicly funded hospital, not a private enterprise – the
hospital has been struggling to meet increasing population needs for healthcare and government
targets. Frequent complaints from patients and the families of patients concerning the service being
delivered by the hospital appear to be the primary concerns. Compared to larger teaching trusts,
Roehampton has seen limited funding increases and it is often seen as a second-tier hospital trust.

[Note: If you are not familiar with the NHS and UK public health services, please read the following:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/57a08d91e5274a31e000192c/The-history-and-
development-of-the-UK-NHS.pdf]

In 2019/2020 a spate of allegations about the management of the trust emerged in the media
prompting the Secretary of State for Health to take action: a new Chief Executive was eventually
installed. Joshua Brady is known in government circles as the expert in healthcare management and
turning around failing hospital trusts.

New Chief Executive

Joshua Brady took on the role of Chief Executive just six months ago
with a clear brief from the Secretary of State for Health to turn around
Roehampton Hospital Trust.

On the first day of his new role, Josh Brady called his good friend
Trevor Johnson, who is a senior partner at Surrey Consulting. Josh
and Trevor go back long-time; they were house-mates during their
MBA at INSEAD and Trevor has helped Josh with several tricky
assignments.

© Dr Sabine Seeger 1
 Josh gives Trevor a summary of the known issues during a long lunch; with
so many wide-ranging issues they conclude only a comprehensive
transformation programme will solve the business problems. Procurement is
of course tightly regulated and follows a strict process, for that reason Josh
and Trevor agree on a moderate scoping project within Josh’s authorisation
budget to get the ball rolling.

Transformation Programme on Hold

Four weeks into the scoping project, Josh Brady receives a call from the Secretary of State for Health
who informs him that an investigation is now being conducted by the police into historic allegations
of financial irregularities by a ‘whistleblower’.

Consequently, Josh asks Trevor to put the scoping project for the comprehensive transformation
programme on hold. The Surrey Consulting project manager John Walter wraps up his work and files
all the work in progress documents.

© Dr Sabine Seeger 2