Is Reading NHS Policy and Guidance Actually Worth Your Time?
- 4 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
At THC Primary Care, we often share our analysis and perspectives on national policy guidance, and responses are split into two camps. Some people really engage. Others scroll past thinking, "I'll worry about it when someone tells me what I actually have to do."
And we get it. You've got contract deliverables, must-dos, boxes to tick.
Understanding the wider policy environment feels like extra work nobody's explicitly asking you to do.
In this blog, I'm sharing a framework that can help you understand where meaning in your work actually comes from, and why feeling disconnected from national policy direction doesn't mean you're doing it wrong.
You'll get a practical facilitation tool for diagnosing where alignment exists in your role (and where it doesn't), as well as permission to make conscious choices about how to navigate that.
Having worked in the NHS for 10 years and supported over 300 primary care networks. Here's what I've learned: understanding the wider environment gives your work a deeper context, and helps you see beyond the headlines to what's actually changing.
Let's jump in!
The Different Layers of "Why"
I believe there are actually several levels of "why" operating simultaneously:
Your individual why – the reason you turn up to work. What drives you personally?
Your team's why – the collective purpose you share with colleagues.
Your organisation's why – your organisation's strategic direction and your board's priorities.
Your patients, why, but they will all be different; however, I Im sure there will be common themes.
The national direction – the three shifts: from hospitals to community (care closer to home), from treatment to prevention, and from analogue to digital.
In an ideal world, these would align beautifully. Your personal motivation would connect to your team's purpose, align with organisational strategy, and complement national policy.
However, we don't live in an ideal world.
Sometimes these layers align. Sometimes they conflict. Often, they're just disconnected.
Finding a Meaning that Matters
To find meaning in your work, you might need to disregard the national direction entirely and focus on what you can control.
Your individual why. Your team's shared purpose. The difference you make for actual patients, regardless of whether it fits someone's strategic framework.
That's legitimate. That's the real work.
But if alignment does exist between your why and the national direction? That can be powerful.
When you can draw the line from your day-to-day work to something bigger, that adds additional layers of meaning that sustain you through difficult periods.
What Understanding Policy Actually Gives You
Even when 90% is outside your control, understanding policy context gives you:
The ability to choose your response. You can see where alignment exists and where it doesn't. You can make conscious decisions about where to invest energy and where to do the minimum.
Earlier visibility. By the time something becomes a contractual must-do, you're already behind. Understanding direction means you can position yourself well in advance, before it becomes urgent.
Context for slow progress. There are layers and layers of legacy processes, structures, and boundaries that have existed for decades. The devolution of NHS England is trying to undo some of that, but you can't flip the switch overnight. Understanding that helps you calibrate expectations.
Better conversations. When you can connect policy direction to local delivery, you're providing strategic insight, not just reporting tasks.
The Reality
Many people in primary care have been in the field for a long time.
They see things going round in circles. Reorganisations that create more fragmentation. Initiatives rebadged with new names. Targets that shift but never disappear.
There comes a point where you decide: do I stay on this merry-go-round, or get off?
Whatever you choose.... that's okay. But there is a choice.
It's Not All Or Nothing
You don't need to become a policy analyst and dedicate time to dissecting every document the NHS produces, but having an overarching awareness can be helpful.
What I would ask is that rather than you just read the headlines, scan the document to understand the:
WHO
WHAT
WHY
WHERE
WHEN
HOW
HOW MUCH
Making this meaningful for you
Take a moment to map out the different layers of "why" in your own context.
What's your individual why? Why do you actually turn up to work? What matters to you?
What's your team's why? What collective purpose do you share with your colleagues?
What's your organisation's why? What's your PCN or practice actually trying to achieve?
What's the national direction asking for? And what do the three left shifts mean for you? ( To remind you, they are: From hospital to community (care closer to home), from treatment to prevention, and from analogue to digital.
Additionally, consider including patient feedback or, better yet, engaging with your patient participation group (PPG) to understand what is most important to them.
Now look at where alignment exists and where it doesn't.
Download the Alignment Framework facilitation guide to use with your team
If there's alignment across all layers – brilliant. Lean into that. That's where you'll find the most meaning and momentum.
If there's misalignment, that's useful information too. It tells you where the friction is coming from. It helps you understand why certain requirements feel arbitrary or why your organisation's priorities don't resonate with you.
And crucially, it helps you make conscious choices about how to navigate that misalignment.
Sometimes that means pushing back against the system.
Sometimes it means doing the minimum to meet requirements while investing your real energy where alignment does exist.
Sometimes it means having honest conversations with your team or board about the disconnect.
The point isn't that you have to create perfect alignment.
The point is understanding where you are, so that you can navigate, fight, or disengage intentionally.
Download The Alignment Framework
Use this free one-page facilitation guide to explore alignment and make conscious choices about where to invest your energy.
Work with us
If your network’s facing unproductive meetings, unclear goals, or ongoing tension, you don’t have to navigate it alone. Our facilitation services help PCNs tackle challenging conversations, clarify shared purpose, and establish decision-making frameworks that work for everyone.
About Us
THC Primary Care is an award-winning healthcare consultancy specialising in Primary Care Network Management and the creator of the Business of Healthcare Podcast. With over 20 years in the industry, we've supported more than 200 PCNs through interim management, training, and consultancy.
Our expertise spans project management and business development across both private and public sectors. Our work has been published in the London Journal of Primary Care, and we've authored over 250 blogs sharing insights about primary care networks.
Find out more about THC Primary Care and follow us on Linkedin.
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