Swimming together will help leaders understand the values, culture and skills they need to survive and thrive as the NHS tries to change from organisations working in silos to local health and care networks focused on the needs of patients.

Under the STP process announced in December 2015, health and local government leaders are coming together locally to take on two big challenges – shaping services around local needs, and doing so in a way which is financially sustainable.

Barriers between primary, secondary and community care are becoming ever more permeable and, for the first time since the creation of the NHS in 1948, local government is a major partner in shaping and delivering care.

Swimming together or sinking alone analyses the difficulties these new, highly-pressured networks are experiencing, and identifies how managers need to think and act differently to make systems leadership a success.

Institute of Healthcare Management Chief Executive, Jill DeBene said, 'Breaking down the barriers that get in the way of good patient care requires profound changes in the way managers think and work. Every healthcare leader needs to understand that she or he is now responsible for the entire system, not just their own organisation. This requires a huge leap of imagination.'