Hospice movement needs to be rebellious in its approach to change

She was addressing over 500 delegates who have travelled to Leeds to attend the national hospice charity’s annual event, which this year is focusing on demonstrating the impact of hospice care.

Helen, who has been a leader of large scale change in the English NHS for over 20 years, talked of a seismic shift occurring in the health sector and the need to get used to more rapid and disruptive change.

She pointed to the fact that change is happening more and more “at the edge”, stating that hospices operate brilliantly at the edge and that they are activists whose “time is coming”.

She went on to address the differences between the dominant, ‘power through hierarchy’, approach to change and the emerging approach of ‘power through connection’.

She said that change needs to be viral and from the bottom up – not hierarchical. Hierarchical organisations are too risk averse, she added, and claimed hierarchical power is diminishing as working across organisations, systems and communities becomes more prominent.  She called on delegates to forge cohesive networks, utilising digital technology, in order to achieve transformational change and said ‘disruptive change’ should be championed and become the “new normal”. Rebels, she added, are the “saviours of change”.

She did, however, acknowledge that being ‘disruptive’ isn’t easy and cautioned that hospices should “rock the boat but not fall out”. Hospices must conform in order to rebel, she said, and that this can be achieved by being the “best corporate citizens”.

She ended by highlighting the importance of self-efficacy and offering tips on how to build this, including creating change step by step and making change routine rather than an exceptional activity.

Earlier Michael Howard, Hospice UK’s Chair, welcomed delegates to the conference and highlighted the importance of hospices demonstrating their impact. He called for hospices to seriously look at extending their reach and said the big challenge for the sector was addressing unmet need.

All the presentations from day one of the conference are available to download from the Hospice UK website. The video of Helen Bevan’s presentation will be available on the Hospice UK website from next week.

Make sure you visit ehospice tomorrow for more conference coverage.