During President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Britain in autumn 2015, more than £2 billion of healthcare trade deals and collaborations were signed between Chinese and UK companies, universities and organisations, one such healthcare leadership development collaboration has been running in Cambridge, at the Møller Centre for the last six years.
The healthcare collaboration between the Møller Centre and Shanghai Hospital Development Centre has so far seen over 140 senior directors from state-owned Shanghai Hospital attend six annual 20-day leadership development programmes designed and delivered by Møller Executive Education.
The timing of the latest programme for Shanghai Hospital Development Centre coincided with President Xi’s visit and focused on public hospital management and reform. The Møller Executive Education programme combined lectures, debates on healthcare policy, discussions and hospital site visits. State-owned Shanghai Hospital Development Centre is responsible for investing, managing and operating the state assets of municipal public hospitals and running hospitals on behalf of the government.
Mark Carberry, Head of Executive Education at the Møller Centre explained, “China is set to become the world’s fastest growing healthcare market, and hospitals like Shanghai Hospital are driving healthcare reform in China. My team designed this bespoke leadership development programme to give senior directors from Shanghai Hospital valuable insights into public and private sector healthcare provision in the UK. It also enables them to contrast the UK experience with the functional challenges shaping modern China’s health policy environment and healthcare marketplace. Over the last six years we have built a strong strategic partnership with the leadership team at Shanghai Hospital and the programme has brought together healthcare professionals and academics from Cambridgeshire-based Addenbrooke’s and Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trusts, but also from John Radcliffe Hospital Oxford, St Mary’s London and The London Clinic.
Our close relationship with the leadership team at Shanghai Hospital means we understand the skills they are looking to develop and can build programmes that combine challenging lectures by exceptional academics, and senior practitioners who have first- hand experience with research in the health-care sector drawn from across the world. This year’s programme has seen lively debate and we have encouraged the directors of Shanghai Hospital to embrace their challenges and consider how they will action what they have learned to help them maximise impact and drive change on their return to the hospital.”
This year the Shanghai delegation heard from leading figures from the UK healthcare sector including Dr Hans Hagen, Chief Operating Officer at Cambridge University Health Partners; Dr Tony Jewell, former Chief Medical Officer at NHS Wales; Jan Filochowski, former CEO of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children; Professor Sian Griffiths, Emeritus Professor of CUHK, Visiting Professor of Imperial College London; Dr Roger Hall, Medical Director at Papworth Hospital and Paul Holdom, CEO of The London Clinic.
Ms Tang, Head of HR Shanghai Hospital Group explained, “The Møller team put together another impressive programme to help us develop a comprehensive understanding of public hospital management and reform issues. We have enjoyed the learning experience which has encouraged us to reflect on the challenges we face and sharpen our leadership, strategic planning, innovation and problem-solving skills. The insights we have gained during the programme have been enlightening and will help us to design, introduce, and sustain major policy and institutional plans in China.”
Dr Hans Hagen, Chief Operating Officer, Cambridge University Health Partners said, “All nations need to address growing pressures on their health economy and potential threats to the financial sustainability of their health systems. Creating new ideas for a more cost-effective management of the health sector is crucial, as is the use of smart technology to drive down costs. The Møller Executive Education Programme offers a unique opportunity for senior directors of Shanghai Hospitals to gain an insight into how the UK is responding to the challenge of managing the NHS in a more cost-effective manner. I trust that this year’s programme has catalysed a constructive discussion, which could facilitate the development of innovative strategies to deal with the future health care challenges in China.”