ABSTRACT
The aim of transforming theatre services is to provide a better patient experience, increase the quality of services and improve patient flow but perhaps most significantly to prevent cancellations of operations on the day. Each clinical and technical group has their own culture of practice, shift patterns and different codes of professional practice, which will all serve to support the development of their own different professional identities. The nature of medical leadership is of a 'hybrid leader role' with limited time for doctors to devote to leadership, management, service improvement and system transformation. Doctors are busy 'doing the doing' and with very little time to devote to service improvement and system transformation. Fitzsimmons describes the challenge facing frontline workers in providing a high-quality service to patients. She describes the feeling of being powerless as frontline staff seek to challenge out-dated practices.
