The NED’s role – from hospital to community care
26 September 2025
On Friday 26 September, GGi hosted its latest monthly webinar for NHS non-executive directors (NEDs). The session was chaired by GGi principal consultant Simon Hall and featured Dr Minoo Irani, GGi special adviser, retired paediatrician and NHS medical director, and current NED. The theme was The NED’s role – from hospital to community care.
Dr Irani began by unpicking some of the assumptions behind the idea of shifting care from hospital to community. He noted the confusion created by multiple overlapping terms – from “care closer to home” to “neighbourhood health centres” – and warned against assuming community services are inherently cheaper or more efficient. He also highlighted contradictions within national policy: trusts set up to compete are now being asked to collaborate, while community provision is often seen simply as an overflow for acute hospitals.
He introduced the triple value framework – allocative, technical, and personal value – as a useful lens for NEDs scrutinising plans and strategy. In his words: “We have to make this work. The real test for NEDs is whether services are truly meeting patient needs, not just shifting the same hospital model into another building.”
The Q&A explored the practical implications of this shift. Several contributions pointed to the NHS’s acute-centric culture, with community services often framed as secondary. Questions were raised about whether integrated trust models genuinely change the balance, and whether virtual wards are designed for patient benefit or simply to relieve hospital pressure. Others emphasised the importance of co-production and co-design with patients, warning that without this, services risk being underused or mistrusted.
Funding was another recurring theme. While the ambition to move care into the community is widely accepted, participants agreed that resource flows rarely follow. NEDs discussed their responsibility to act as the independent voice of the community, challenging boards to see NHS resources as public assets rather than solely the property of their trust.
The conversation also touched on the role of the voluntary and community sector, which many felt remains an underused partner in supporting prevention, recovery, and personalised care.
Closing the session, Simon Hall reflected that while the pressures on hospitals are immense, NEDs can help lead the cultural and strategic shift required to make community-based care a reality.
The message was clear: progress depends not only on structures and policies, but on leadership, values, and above all a focus on what patients need.
