Professor Mark Exworthy

Professor Mark Exworthy

Health Services Management Centre
Professor of Health Policy and Management
Co-director, MBA Clinical Leadership

Contact details

Telephone
+44(0)121 414 3213
Email
m.exworthy@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@UoBHML
View my research portal
Address
School of Social Policy and Society, HSMC
Park House
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2RT, United Kingdom

Mark is a Professor of Health Policy and Management at the Health Services Management Centre, University of Birmingham and Co-Director of the MBA Clinical Leadership course. 

Twitter:

Qualifications

  • PhD, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London
  • BSc, Loughborough University
  • PG Certificate: Academic Practice in Teaching and Learning
  • Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS)

Biography

Mark has previously held posts at Southampton University, London School of Economics (LSE), University College London (UCL), Oxford Brookes and Royal Holloway University of London. He was also a Harkness Fellow in health care policy, based at University of California-San Francisco (UCSF) (funded by the Commonwealth Fund of New York).

Teaching

Course director, `Health Management and Leadership’ (HML) inter-calation course for medical students.

Postgraduate supervision

Mark is interested in supervising postgraduate researchers in the following areas:

  • Governance
  • health policy
  • professionalism
  • policy implementation

Research

Mark's research interests fall into 3 : 

  • Governance and implementation relating to policies to tackle health inequalities and other social `problems'.
  • Professionals and managerialism in health care organisations (especially relating to management of clinical performance).
  • Decentralisation in health care organisations.

Mark's research has been funded by the ESRC, NHS (Dept of Health and NIHR), Joseph Rowntree Foundation, NHS Confederation and the Commonwealth Fund of New York. He has been involved as PI or co-PI on research grants totalling £2.5m.

Other activities

Chair, Society for Studies in Organising Health Care (SHOC): http://shoc.org.uk/ and https://twitter.com/SHOC_OBHC

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Exworthy, M, Hyde, P & McDermott, A 2026, 'Institutional maintenance of an elite profession: The case of performance-related pay in the English medical profession', Social Science and Medicine, vol. 410, 119851. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2026.119851

Lunt, N, Toth, F & Exworthy, M 2026, 'Multiple paths to privatisation in healthcare? Comparing England and Italy beyond the public–private divide', Health Economics, Policy and Law. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1744133126100760

Parsons, J, Exworthy, M, Murphy, ND & Gauly, J 2026, 'National Health Service consultants’ experiences and views of performance pay in England: A qualitative interview study', BMJ Open, vol. 16, no. 9, e111699. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2025-111699

Samarasinghe, BSW, Millar, R, Exworthy, M & Aunger, J 2025, 'Building an initial programme theory to explain how and why on-the-day surgery cancellations occur and how they might be reduced', BMC Health Services Research, vol. 25, 1445. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-025-13592-x

Lunt, N & Exworthy, M 2025, 'Children’s hospitals in the British NHS: commercial and international considerations', Medical Humanities, vol. 51, no. 4, pp. 437-443. https://doi.org/10.1136/medhum-2024-013099

Exworthy, M, Gauly, J, Parsons, J, Green, K & Murphy, N 2025, 'Performance-related pay for NHS consultants: exploring views and perceived impacts in one NHS Trust in England', BMJ Leader. https://doi.org/10.1136/leader-2024-001000

Sheaff, R, Ellis Paine, A, Exworthy, M, Hardwick, R & Smith, C 2024, 'Commodification and healthcare in the third sector in England: from gift to commodity—and back?', Public Money & Management, vol. 44, no. 4, pp. 298-307. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540962.2023.2244350

Sheaff, R, Ellis Paine, A, Exworthy, M, Gibson, A, Stuart, J, Jochum, V, Allen, P, Clark, J, Mannion, R & Asthana, S 2024, 'Consequences of how third sector organisations are commissioned in the NHS and local authorities in England: a mixed-methods study', Health and Social Care Delivery Research, vol. 12, no. 39. https://doi.org/10.3310/NTDT7965

Exworthy, M, Lunt, N, Tuck, P & Mistry, R 2024, 'From commodification to entrepreneurialism: how commercial income is transforming the English NHS', Public Money & Management, vol. 44, no. 4, pp. 308-316. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540962.2023.2243775

Ansmann, L, Nöst, S, Körner, M, Auschra, C, Bal, R, Böddeker, M, Bode, I, Braithwaite, J, Breidenbach, C, Coors, M, Demirer, I, Exworthy, M, Harst, L, Heuser, C, Hoffmann, J, Köberlein-Neu, J, Krajic, K, Maniatopoulos, G, Mannion, R, Möhler, R, Pfaff, H, Rind, E, Schnack, MAH, Wagner, MAA, Weigl, M, Wensing, M, Wiig, S, Wild, E, Wilhelm, H, Wirtz, M & Götz, K 2024, 'Navigating the Future of Organisational Health Services Research in Germany and beyond: a Position Paper', Das Gesundheitswesen. https://doi.org/10.1055/a-2308-7384

Lunt, N & Exworthy, M 2024, 'NHS dentistry in Britain: A long overdue check‐up', World Medical & Health Policy. https://doi.org/10.1002/wmh3.626

Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Exworthy, M & Hunter, DJ 2024, Mind the gap: tackling health inequalities. in M Powell, D Beland & C Wendt (eds), Research handbook of health care policy. Edward Elgar, pp. 170-190. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800887565.00015

Chapter

Mannion, R & Exworthy, M 2025, Researching Organisational Behaviour in Health Care: Assessing the Contribution of Workforce. in Organising the Health Care Workforce: Strategic Responses to the Challenges and Dilemmas Faced by Health and Care Services. Palgrave Macmillan Cham, pp. 235-256. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-89584-5_10

Comment/debate

Samarasinghe, BSW, Millar, R & Exworthy, M 2025, 'Bridging the divide? Why the integration of standardisation and individualisation of care remains paramount during turbulent times', BMJ Leader, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 292-294. https://doi.org/10.1136/leader-2023-000920

Exworthy, M & Mannion, R 2025, 'Broadening the Analysis of Canadian Healthcare Reforms', Healthcare Papers, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 60-65. https://doi.org/10.12927/hcpap.2025.27698

View all publications in research portal

Expertise

Health and Social care

Health policy and management including NHS reform