Leadership and management in specialist palliative care

Since the publication in the UK of the White Paper 'Working for patients' (1989) which set out the Government's strategy for a better health service for patients, nursing management has undergone a metamorphosis. Senior nurse managers in newly established National Health Service Trusts have, in many cases, had to rise to the challenge of making the shift from a predominantly operational to a corporate role while maintaining their function as head of the profession of nursing without necessarily having management responsibility for nurses.