Too Good To Fail?

Appendix: A personal account

1. My world

This book is based on a sector I have worked in for many years and know well. Healthcare and in particular hospitals probably account for over 12% of global GDP. Just one hospital would constitute a major management undertaking. So what is a hospital? What goes on in it?

• It is a 24/7 organisation, dealing with the most important issues possible – illness and health, life and death. Its ‘product’ is the most complex of all, our bodies and our minds.
• It is a place of care and healing. We all believe in care and healing and know they are worthwhile. Hospitals and hospital staff run on a sense of altruism and a determination to ‘do the right thing’.
• An average UK general hospital will serve a population ...