Craig Ryan

Writer | Reporter | Editor

Magazines

  • Out now: Winter 2024-25 issue of Healthcare Manager

    The latest issue of Healthcare Manager, the quarterly magazine for managers in the NHS and social care, is out now.

    This one turned into a bit of a ‘reform special’, with the fallout from the Darzi review into the state of the NHS (there’s a very good summary of Lord Darzi’s findings from the NHS Confederation here), and lots of rather bitty statements from ministers on how they might reform the NHS and what might be in the forthcoming ten year plan.

    Cover of Healthcare Manager 62, Winter 2024-25, featuring photo of Ed Garratt.

    So in this issue we look at what the Darzi review means for managers, how the ten year plan needs to be different from previous failed reform plans and at the government’s rather sketchy plans for professional regulation of NHS managers.

    Our main interview is with Ed Garratt, chief executive of the Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board (ICBs are the bodies that plan and fund NHS services in your local area). As well as running one of England’s most successful ICBs, Ed leads a whole bunch of task forces and pilot projects that may play a big role in the government’s reforms. What he has to say about the need for compassion and kindness in leadership, investing for the future and doing things differently in the NHS is well worth a read.

    I hope you enjoy this issue. The digital edition is free for everyone to download and read. 

    I’ve been editor of Healthcare Manager since 2016 and have worked on the title since it was launched in 2009. If you want to know more about the magazine or work with us on a story, please drop me a line.

  • Healthcare Manager — 2024 Election Special

    The election special edition of Healthcare Manager is out now.

    Election coverage is difficult. There’s a lot of noise to cut through but very little light shed on the big issues. We’ve tried to look at this election from our readers’ perspective, as people trying to manage health and care services in the most difficult environment since World War II. We’ve set out what we see as the business the next government – red or blue – needs to get done in the NHS. We’ve looked at what the experts say about six big issues – waiting lists, workforce, social care, reform, buildings and technology – and what Labour and the Tories are offering. And we’ve examined four (there are many more) looming trouble spots that you won’t hear much about in the campaign.

    We also have an interview with GP, comedian and health campaigner Dr Phil Hammond, some tips on how to restart your career after redundancy and some frank advice on what to do if you’re being discriminated against at work.

    I hope you enjoy it. The digital edition is free for everyone to download and read. 

    If you would like to know more about Healthcare Manager magazine or work with us on a story, please drop me a line.

  • Healthcare Manager magazine

    I’ve been editor of Healthcare Manager since 2016, having worked on the title as a consultant editor since it was launched in 2009.

    The magazine is published by Managers in Partnership (MiP), the union set up by Unison and the FDA to represent senior managers in the NHS and social care. We publish four issues a year, offering a mix of news reports, analysis, in-depth features and advice on professional, employment and trade union issues.

    As editor, I plan and commission content for each issue (as well as the MiP website), research stuff that might interest our readers and sub-edit all copy, as well as contributing news reports and features myself. I work with MiP staff to make sure the union’s priorities are covered and help staff to produce content themselves.

    I also manage the work of our freelance contributors and photographers, and control expenditure on the magazine within the overall budget set by my bosses at MiP.

    Design, layout and production is handled by my colleague James Sparling through our company, Lexographic. I work closely with James to finalise the covers and inside pages of the magazine, including writing headlines and captions, selecting images and signing-off of the pages for print.

    We also liaise with the printers and distributors to ensure everything runs smoothly and the magazine gets published on time and on budget.

    If you would like to know more about Healthcare Manager magazine or work with us on a story, please drop me a line.

    Download sample copies of Healthcare Manager

    You can always download the latest issue free from the MiP website.

    HCM 44 Winter 2019-20 Cover
    HCM44 Winter 2019-20
    HCM43 Autumn 2019

  • Public Service magazine

    Public Service Magazine (PSM) is a quarterly news and features title published by the FDA, the union for the UK’s top civil servants. I launched PSM in 1998, when I was head of communications at the FDA, and was editor for several years before going freelance . I’ve continued to work with the FDA on PSM and other projects ever since. In 2017-18, the union invited me back to the editor’s chair while the current editor took maternity leave.

    Back in the nineties, we wanted PSM to be a radically different trade union magazine. We felt conventional union journals, like the FDA’s existing newsletter, were aimed too much at activists rather than ordinary members, and tended to treat readers solely as trade unionists rather than professionals. Our guiding principle at the time, much chewed over in the pubs around Whitehall, was that we were ‘moving from Pravda to The Times’.

    We produced content that focused on careers, professional and policy debates, advice and guidance as well as bread and butter employment issues. We sometimes published articles that challenged the union’s official line or which tried to stir up debate. We introduced colour photographs and graphics for the first time, and far higher standards of editorial and design. And we published a lot – eleven issues a year in those pre-digital days! Although the look and feel of PSM has changed much over the last two decades, the magazine remains true to the same ethos today.

    Over the years, I’ve contributed hundreds of articles to PSM, including features, news reports, interviews, book reviews and analysis pieces. You can read some of them in my cuttings section, or see some of the issues I edited recently below. Through my company Lexographic, I’ve continued to work with the FDA on projects large and small, most notably on the union’s centenary project, Our Story, in 2019.

    Download sample copies of Public Service Magazine

    • PSM Winter 2017-18
    • PSM Summer 2017