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Navigating the micro-politics of major system change: The implementation of Sustainability Transformation Partnerships in the English health and care system

Waring, Justin; Bishop, Simon; Black, Georgia; Clarke, Jenelle M; Exworthy, Mark; Fulop, Naomi J; Hartley, Jean; ... Roe, Bridget; + view all (2022) Navigating the micro-politics of major system change: The implementation of Sustainability Transformation Partnerships in the English health and care system. Journal of Health Services Research & Policy 10.1177/13558196221142237. (In press). Green open access

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Abstract

Objective: To investigate how health and care leaders navigate the micro-politics of major system change (MSC) as manifest in the formulation and implementation of Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships (STPs) in the English National Health Service (NHS). / Methods: A comparative qualitative case study of three STPs carried out between 2018–2021. Data collection comprised 72 semi-structured interviews with STP leaders and stakeholders; 49h of observations of STP executive meetings, management teams and thematic committees, and documentary sources. Interpretative analysis involved developing individual and cross case reports to understand the ‘disagreements, ‘people and interests’ and the ‘skills, behaviours and practice’. / Findings: Three linked political fault-lines underpinned the micro-politics of formulating and implementing STPs: differences in meaning and value, perceptions of winners and losers, and structural differences in power and influence. In managing these issues, STP leaders engaged in a range of complementary strategies to understand and reconcile meanings, appraise and manage risks and benefits, and to redress longstanding power imbalances, as well as those related to their own ambiguous position. / Conclusion: Given the lack of formal authority and breadth of system change, navigating the micro-politics of MSC requires political skills in listening and engagement, strategic appraisal of the political landscape and effective negotiation and consensus-building.

Type: Article
Title: Navigating the micro-politics of major system change: The implementation of Sustainability Transformation Partnerships in the English health and care system
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1177/13558196221142237
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1177/13558196221142237
Language: English
Additional information: © The Author(s) 2022. Creative Commons License (CC BY 4.0) This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Keywords: major system change, micro-politics, political skills
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Applied Health Research
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10168196
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