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“Whilst the technical tasks of medicine are important, it is at the level of the team, the service and the organisation that much good health care is generated.  Achieving results through people and managing change is a universally difficult task and one which few are skilled in, trained or prepared for. 

“Many of the qualities needed are well-captured in the expression ‘the reflective doctor’. Someone who is willing to learn and change, someone who is willing to listen, someone who seeks feedback on their performance, someone who is willing to reassess a misunderstanding is more likely to take the right decision in a complex clinical situation or when the future of a service is being debated.  Such a person is more likely, too, to gain the respect of peers and colleagues as a clinical leader.”

(From an address given by Sir Liam Donaldson to the Birmingham Medical Institute, 7 July 2006)

"One of the signs of excellence in a manager is the ability to anticipate problems, not just react to them."

(Sir Liam Donaldson speaking on leadership at the BAMM annual conference held in London, 14th June 2002)

 "People find themselves in leadership roles through circumstances. As Malvolio might have put it: some are born leaders, some achieve positions of leadership whilst others have leadership thrust upon them."

(Sir Liam Donaldson speaking on medical leadership at Keele University, 24th January 2002.)

"A senior manager who buries his mistakes will one day face a night of the living dead."

(Sir Liam Donaldson speaking on 'Health care quality in the new Millennium' at the University of Exeter, 9th May 2002.)

"When I appoint someone to a key position I look for a combination of integrity, ability and experience."

(Sir Liam Donaldson speaking at a conference on improving working lives for doctors in London, 18th April 2002.)

"Every Chief Executive Officer of a public sector body believes that somewhere out there is a bullet with their name on. They think it's only a matter of when not whether it will start to move towards them."

(Sir Liam Donaldson speaking on medical leadership at Keele University, 24th January 2002.)

"A reputation for integrity takes years to build, with one small unprincipled action it can ebb away in minutes."

(Sir Liam Donaldson speaking on 'Current priorities in health and health care' at the School of Neurosciences and Psychiatry at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, 5th June 2001.)

"Implementing this major programme of change will require active leadership at all levels in the NHS and an inclusive approach. If it is successful the pay-off for the patients and staff will be huge. Clinical governance is here to stay and up where it belongs as a major priority for the NHS and the health professions."

(Sir Liam Donaldson writing in Journal of Clinical Excellence 2001; 2:199-202.)

"Strategically and day to day most of the work of the chief medical officer falls into four broad categories: improving the health of the population of England, ensuring high standards of care for patients in the National Health Service, protecting the public health, and addressing a wide range of clinical and scientific developments relevant to health and medicine. In addition, there is a major role in troubleshooting across a broad front which is unplanned and unpredictable as problems and crises arise."

(Sir Liam Donaldson writing in Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 2001; 55:371-372.)

"There are a number of qualities which are central to leadership at any level. A leader must be able to inspire and be seen to have integrity. These qualities will develop more easily by someone who works in a team, who learns effectively and who communicates and explains policy. A leader who sees quickly to the heart of a problem will be able to position himself or herself and be able to gauge situations correctly."

(Sir Liam Donaldson writing in Quality in Health Care 2001; 10(suppl II):ii8-ii12.)

"A reputation for deviousness is as damaging to a medical leader - manager, as a reputation for high levels of complications of treatment is damaging to a clinician."

(Sir Liam Donaldson speaking on the subject 'Tomorrow's medical director' at the Ninth Annual Conference of British Association of Medical Managers (BAMM): Clinical Governance in Action. Sheffield, 2-4 June 1999.)

"Anyone who has managed a hospital at a time when serious problems with medical care have surfaced will recognise the additional pressure which is created by media and public concern. In such circumstances, a problem can quickly become a crisis and the investigation and handling of the incident can run out of control. Healthcare managers often bemoan the media's failure to provide a balanced account of the facts. The media do fulfil an important role in uncovering problems and issues which the public would otherwise never be aware of. Moreover, the reality must be accepted: the media will often seek to develop a storyline which is antagonistic to the leadership of the healthcare organisation and to the main protagonists."

(Sir Liam Donaldson writing in Medical Mishaps: Pieces of the Puzzle. Rosenthal M M, Mulcahy L and Lloyd-Bostock S (Eds). Open University Press, February 1999.)

"An understanding of the likely points of conflict when change is heralded, the sources of power within health care organisations and systems, and the way in which they are resolved or harnessed will be just some of the management skills needed by doctors in the future."

(Sir Liam Donaldson writing in the B ritish Medical Journal 1995; 310:104-7.)

"As the bell tolls to herald a new century, success or failure will depend on the quality of that leadership."

(Sir Liam Donaldson writing in Public Health Medicine 1999; 1(3):86.)

"In this challenging environment the service will need not only the best of managers but also more extensive involvement of doctors in the strategic management process. These doctors will have the complex task of sharing in difficult, sometimes deeply unpopular decisions, and of subordinating their institutional or professional loyalties to wider health goals."

(Sir Liam Donaldson writing in the B ritish Medical Journal 1995; 310:104-7.)

"Organisational change can improve the functioning of an organisation but it has to be done in a way that takes staff along with you."

(Sir Liam Donaldson speaking on 'Public Health and Occupational Medicine: the ties that bind' at the Society of Occupational Medicine, Annual Scientific Meeting, University of Plymouth, Friday 16 July 1999.)

"Change, and the threat or the possibility of it, produces uncertainty and can result in conflict. The role of management in these circumstances is to recognise the inevitability of change and to help the organisation (and the individuals within it) to deal with uncertainty whilst moving towards its overall goals."

(Sir Liam Donaldson writing in the B ritish Medical Journal 1995; 310:104-7.)

"Conflict, how it arises and how it is resolved, is closely related to where power lies within a hospital, health authority or medical practice and how this is influenced by external factors. This is a subtle and complex process which differs enormously from one health care organisation to another, over time, and from issue to issue."

(Sir Liam Donaldson writing in the British Medical Journal 1995; 310:104-7.)

"Existing waiting list data are stronger on their quantitative than qualitative aspects: as a consequence relatively little information is routinely available about the characteristics of those waiting".

(Sir Liam Donaldson writing in Community Medicine 1989; 11:13-20.)