Kieran Walshe

Kieran Walshe is Professor of Health Policy and Management at the University of Manchester. He is currently seconded to the Welsh Government as Director of Health and Care Research Wales, the agency which funds and organises health and care research in Wales.  He was a non-executive director of the Christie NHS Foundation Trust from 2017 to 2024, and chair of the board of the UK Health Services Research UK  from 2019 to 2024 where he is still a board member.  He was a member of the REF2014 panel for public health,health services research and primary care. He was associate director of the National Institute of Health Research health services and delivery research programme from 2012 to 2015, and directed the NIHR service delivery and organisation research programme from 2008 to 2011.  He edited the journal Health Services Management Research from 2011 to 2015 and was a board member and scientific committee chair of the European Health Management Association from 2008 to 2015. From 2003 to 2006 he directed the Centre for Public Policy and Management in Manchester Business School, and from 2009 to 2011 he directed the university's Institute of Health Sciences.

He has over thirty years experience in health policy, health management and health services research. He has previously worked at the University of Birmingham, at the University of California at Berkeley as a Harkness Fellow, and at the King's Fund in London, and has a professional background in healthcare management. He often works at the interface between research, policy and practice and values the opportunities it offers to engage with the policy and practitioner communities and to put ideas into action. He has particular interests and expertise in quality and performance in healthcare organisations; the regulation, governance, accountability and performance of public services; and the use of evidence in policy evaluation and learning. He has led a wide range of research projects funded by the ESRC, Department of Health, NIHR, and EU FP7 programmes, and other government departments and NHS organisations. He has advised many government agencies and organisations, in the UK and internationally, including acting as an advisor on health reforms to the House of Commons health select committee and as advisor or expert witness to a number of public inquiries.  His current research is mainly focused on reforms to the healthcare workforce, on organisational and professional regulation, and on quality and safety at the interface between the NHS and the independent healthcare sector.

He tweets as @kieran_walshe

Kieran Walshe's research is mainly concerned with quality and performance in healthcare organisations; the governance, accountability and performance of public services; and the use of evidence in policy evaluation and learning.   Recent research has explored quality and performance assessment and improvement, the governance and accountability of public services, and systems of regulation, scrutiny and oversight.   He has a long standing interest in quality and safety in healthcare including clinical governance, quality measurement, accreditation, adverse events and patient safety.   he has also researched organisational failure and turnaround, major service failures and their consequences, and the use of public inquiries and investigations.

He has been the lead investigator/co-investigator of over 40 research grants from a range of funders including the Economic and Social Research Council, Department of Health, National Institute of Health Research, Department for Communities and Local Government, European Commission, Healthcare Commission, National Audit Office, BUPA Foundation, Canadian Health Services Research Foundation, Commonwealth Fund, and others.  In his time at the University of Manchester has  been principal or co-investigator in research grants totalling about £6.3 million.

He has written six authored or edited books, and about 150 papers in academic peer reviewed journals, plus many more in practitioner journals and other forums.  He has about 15,000 citations on Google Scholar and an h-index of 49. He has written for a wide range of academic and professional journals, including the British Medical Journal, Health Service Journal, Implementation Science, Health Affairs, Milbank Quarterly, Public Money and Management, and Quality and Safety in Healthcare. His books include Regulating Healthcare: A Prescription for Improvement (2003); Patient Safety: Research into Practice (2005); Healthcare Management (2006, 2011, 2016, 2025 forthcoming); Health Policy and Management: A Reader (2009); and From Knowing to Doing: Connecting Knowledge and Performance in Public Services (2010).