Episode 12 Sarah Woolnough

In their latest podcast Niall and Roy engage with Sarah Woolnough the Chief Executive of The King’s Fund, one of the country’s leading health think tanks. In a frank discussion, Sarah defends the role of think tanks and laments the government’s failure to embrace public health and prevention in its first year in office. 

She is highly critical too of the decision to kick the social care can down the road and says the Fund is now exploring radically different ways it could be funded, including social insurance.

She is no fan either of the current reorganisation, arguing that she would have done it differently and quoting NHS leaders warning that it is already a major distraction. And she calls on the government to be honest about what it can and cannot be achieve within current funding constraints.

Sarah reveals one of the most powerful moments she has had since joining the Fund: listening to leaders revealing the moral injury they have felt for not being totally transparent about their financial position for fear of being placed under greater performance scrutiny. 

And while she wishes pharmaceutical bosses better understood NHS funding challenges she understands their ‘immense frustration and anger’ because they feel the government has led them up the garden path.