Despite the opposition of doctors and nurses the NHS reforms are going ahead. The criticisms of teachers in relation to Academies, Free schools and changes to the exam system are ignored. Senior civil servants resign and staff are demoralised as their views are not sort on the reform of the service. It would appear that we have decided that the professionals don’t know best. In fact we seem to have accepted the argument that there is no point in seeking the views of public sector staff in changes to services they work in because they will automatically be against any reforms.
Riding roughshod over professional opinion is justified as offering greater choice, better value for money and being more customer focused. This retail model appears to be the blue print for the future of public services. The customer is king. So I was interested to read this quote from Steve Job former head of Apple and considered by many as the ultimate retail guru. Asked what market research had gone into developing the iPad the late Apple boss replied “None. It’s not the consumers’ job to know what they want”.
So if we followed the example of the highly successful Apple organisation then shouldn’t the government be spending more time and effort engaging with GPs, nurses, teachers, social workers and the full range of professionals who work in public services to use their expertise and experience to develop innovate services? And if the NHS and other public services are to be reformed using a retail model in which the customer is king why are consumers/customers views on the closure of hospitals, libraries and sports centres so often overruled?
Blair McPherson author of UnLearing management and Equipping managers for an uncertain future both published by Russell House www.blairmcpherson.co.uk
