Editorial

Citation

Harding, N. and Lee, H. (2010), "Editorial", Journal of Health Organization and Management, Vol. 24 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/jhom.2010.02524eaa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Journal of Health Organization and Management, Volume 24, Issue 5

This is a special issue to mark the passing of the Nuffield Institute for Health at the University of Leeds, after more than half a century of existence. JHOM was originally called the Journal of Management in Medicine. It was linked with the Nuffield Institute and carried the logo of the Institute on its front cover, a practice that continued after the journal was renamed Journal of Health Organisation and Management. Professor David Hunter, then head of school of the Nuffield Institute, was the second editor of JMM, and when he stepped down he sought editors from within the Nuffield, at which point Jackie Ford and I took over the reins. The University of Leeds restructured its Medical Faculty in 2005, and the Nuffield Institute was absorbed into a new Institute of Health Sciences. The decision was made at that time that health management was not pertinent to the work of the new Institute, so the Nuffield disappeared save for the International Group, which continues to uphold the Nuffield name and tradition at the University of Leeds.

However, there was some fine work undertaken at the old Nuffield Institute for Health, and many papers published in JMM/JHOM testify to that. The department’s teaching was innovative and many managers in the UK’s health service and health services around the world benefited from the insights of a highly dedicated group of staff. Students, especially postgraduate Master’s students working in health services and studying part time, often did research which matches that undertaken by professional researchers. To testify to the quality of their work, and to mark the passing of the Nuffield Institute of Health, this issue contains work by two of the last cohort of students to study the Nuffield Institute’s MA Management and Leadership. The first two papers, by Jenny Naylor and Rosemary Exton, show the range, depth and professionalism of health service managers engaged in post-graduate level research. These two dissertations, shortened for publication, are just two of the many that could have been published. The second part of this edition contains innovative research into health of young people in Africa, undertaken by medical students under the leadership and tutelage of a colleague in the International Group at the Nuffield, working with a colleague from the University of Leeds’ Department of Geography. Their work provides unique insights that we hope will prove of interest to a broad readership.

Jackie Ford, now professor of Leadership and Organization Studies at Bradford University School of Management, stepped down as co-editor of JHOM in 2008, after many years of dedicated effort, which resulted in the Journal developing enormously in scope, quality and depth. This issue is also dedicated to thanking Jackie for all the hard work she put into developing JHOM. She continues her involvement with public sector organisations in general, and the NHS in particular, and her unique and highly influential research, teaching and knowledge transfer activities is growing from strength to strength in the supportive environment, offered by Bradford School of Management.

In 2011 new editors will take over responsibilities for taking JHOM to its next stage of development. At that time all connection with the Nuffield Institute will end. It is therefore timely that this special issue should appear. But over and above the commemoration of the work of the Nuffield Institute for Health at the University of Leeds, the content of these papers should prove of interest to a wide range of readers. They may stimulate new ideas, and new ways of thinking about and delivering health services. If so, then the work of the former staff and colleagues of the Nuffield Institute will continue to reverberate.

Nancy Harding, Hugh LeeEditors, June 2010