Tuesday 10 March 2026 | 17:30-18:30
Stream: Leading

In the complex world of healthcare, where lives depend on timely innovation and evidence-based change, politics often emerges as a formidable barrier.

This debate explores the provocative assertion that politics - through bureaucracy, partisanship, and short-term agendas - undermines genuine improvement.

While healthcare professionals strive for patient-centered progress, political interference can stall reforms, divert resources, and prioritise optics over outcomes. Yet, is politics truly the enemy, or a necessary framework for accountability, investment and equity?  Can improvement thrive without political will, or does it require a radical reimagining of how policy and practice intersect? Join us as leading voices from healthcare improvement - all of whom have held roles that interact with politics in the pursuit of improvement - debate this topic. We promise it will be lively, fun and interactive!

After this session, participants will be able to:

• Appraise the role of politics in healthcare improvement
  
• Identify ways to leverage politics in support of healthcare improvement
• Develop thinking about ways in which policy and practice might be radically reimagined
  

Amar Shah National Clinical Director for Improvement, England, NHS England; England
Inge Kristensen CEO, Danish Society for Patient Safety; Denmark
Jason Leitch Senior Fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI); Scotland
Christina Krause  Chief Executive Officer, Health Quality BC; Canada