TY - JOUR T1 - Who are the great medical leaders of our era? JF - Future Hospital Journal JO - Future Hosp J SP - 157 LP - 158 DO - 10.7861/futurehosp.2-3-157 VL - 2 IS - 3 AU - Peter Lees Y1 - 2015/10/01 UR - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/2/3/157.abstract N2 - The Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management 2015 Annual Conference heard an uplifting run through of the great British inventions and innovations of the past fifty years from the NHS England medical director. The list is impressive and by head of population, globally unbeatable; in short, UK medicine punches way above its weight on the international stage.There is no one on that list whose lauded contribution was to make the NHS as a system work better. Aneurin Bevan is rightly praised but is one Bevan in 60 odd years enough? So, the doctors in the hall of fame invented clever technical advances, but none how to afford them? If the NHS is to enjoy another 60 years as the envy of the world and remain the US Commonwealth Fund number one, we need to focus significant brainpower on how to deliver better care, not just what we deliver. Technological advance alone will not be enough unless, of course, we conquer Alzheimer's disease, vascular disease, cancer, obesity and diabetes more quickly than appears likely.Politicians appear to interfere relatively little in the world of innovation and research perhaps because the sector is highly assertive and, to the outsider, feels remarkably unified, presumably washing any dirty linen in private. The NHS could not be more different. Politicians interfere all of the time and the profession responds disparately with what can sound like self-interest. Worse still, dirty linen is regularly washed in public and denigration of individuals, professional disciplines, national medical bodies etc goes way … ER -