Dr Ross Millar

Health Services Management Centre
Senior Lecturer

Contact details

Telephone: +44(0)121 414 8980
Email: r.millar@bham.ac.uk
Twitter: @DrRossMillar

Address: School of Social Policy, HSMC
Park House
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2RT, United Kingdom

Ross is a Senior Lecturer with interests in the organisation and governance of healthcare. His research analyses the experiences and dynamics of quality and safety, partnerships and collaboration, and hybrid organisational forms.

Ross is a Programme Director for the Level 7 Senior Leader Degree Apprenticeship. He also teaches across a range of HSMC programmes in relation to quality and safety, understanding organisational performance, and innovation and improvement.

Qualifications

PhD, University of Manchester (2009)
MRes, University of Manchester (2003)
B.Soc.Sci (Hons), University of Manchester (2002)

Professional qualifications:

Post Graduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning, University of Birmingham, 2014
Graduate Teaching Certificate, University of Manchester, 2003

Biography

Teaching

MSc Health and Care System Leadership (Degree Apprenticeship)

Understanding Organisational Performance
Leading Quality & Safety
Innovation & Improvement

MSc Health Policy and Management

Health Care Quality: Improvement and Innovation

BMedSci Intercalated Degree in Health Management and Leadership

Improving Quality & Patient Safety

Postgraduate supervision

Healthcare reform
Quality improvement
Patient Safety
Partnerships and Collaboration
Governance

Research

Ross has worked on a range of research projects which have been funded by the British Academy, Department of Health Policy Research Programme, NIHR Health Service and Delivery programme, the Health Foundation, and the Academic Health Science Network. Recent projects have included:

A study of inter organisational partnering across NHS providers
Examining the role of NHS Boards in overseeing quality and safety in hospitals
Comparative case studies of healthcare reform in the NHS
Analysing healthcare reform in China from the perspective of the workforce
The start-up and growth of social enterprises in health and social care

Ross draws on a variety of theories and ideas from public policy, organisation studies and sociology to make sense of these developments.

His methodological interests are primarily qualitative drawing on interviews and observations. Ross also has an interest in evidence synthesis using realist methods.

Ross is interested in any PhD proposals connected to these areas.

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Mannion, R, Davies, H, Powell, M, Blenkinsopp, J, Millar, R, McHale, J & Snowden, N 2019, 'Healthcare scandals and the failings of doctors: do official inquiries hold the profession to account?', Journal of Health, Organization and Management, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 221-240. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHOM-04-2018-0126

Millar, R, Freeman, T, Mannion, R & Davies, H 2018, 'Meta-regulation meets Deliberation: Situating the Governor within NHS Foundation Trust Hospitals', Journal of Social Policy. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047279418000739

Zhang, M, Wang, W, Millar, R, Li, G & Yan, F 2017, 'Coping and compromise: a qualitative study of how primary health care providers respond to health reform in China', Human Resources for Health, vol. 15, no. 1, 50. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-017-0226-z

Millar, R, Chen, Y, Wang, M, Fang, L, Liu, J, Xuan, Z & Li, G 2017, 'It's all about the money? a qualitative study of healthcare worker motivation in urban China', International Journal for Equity in Health, vol. 16, no. 1, 120. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-017-0616-9

Mannion, R, Davies, H, Jacobs, R, Kasteridis, P, Millar, R & Freeman, T 2017, 'Do Hospital Boards matter for better, safer, patient care?', Social Science and Medicine, vol. 177, pp. 278-287. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.01.045

Millar, R, Jian, W, Mannion, R & Miller, R 2016, 'Healthcare reform in China: making sense of a policy experiment?', Journal of Health, Organization and Management, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 324-330. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHOM-12-2014-0200

Mannion, R, Freeman, T, Millar, R & Davies, H 2016, 'Effective board governance of safe care: a (theoretically underpinned) cross-sectioned examination of the breadth and depth of relationships through national quantitative surveys and in-depth qualitative case studies', Health Services and Delivery Research, vol. 4 , no. 4, pp. 1-164. https://doi.org/10.3310/hsdr04040

Freeman, T, Millar, R, Mannion, R & Davies, H 2016, 'Enacting corporate governance of health care safety and quality: a dramaturgy of hospital boards in England', Sociology of Health and Illness, vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 233–251. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.12309

Millar, R & Dickinson, H 2016, 'Planes, straws and oysters: the use of metaphors in healthcare reform', Journal of Health, Organization and Management, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 117-132. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHOM-11-2013-0242

Millar, R, Freeman, T & Mannion, R 2015, 'Hospital board oversight of quality and safety : a stakeholder analysis exploring the role of trust and intelligence', BMC Health Services Research, vol. 15, no. 1, 196. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-015-0771-x

Mannion, R, Davies, H, Freeman, T, Millar, R, Jacobs, R & Kasteridis, P 2015, 'Overseeing oversight: governance of quality and safety by hospital boards in the English NHS', Journal of Health Services Research & Policy, vol. 20, no. 1 (suppl. 9-16), pp. 9-16. https://doi.org/10.1177/1355819614558471

Hall, K, Miller, R & Millar, R 2015, 'Public, Private or Neither? Analysing the publicness of health care social enterprises', Public Management Review. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2015.1014398

Mcleod, H, Millar, R, Goodwin, N & Powell, M 2014, 'Perspectives on the policy ‘black box’: a comparative case study of orthopaedics services in England', Health economics, policy, and law, vol. 9, no. 04, pp. 383-405. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1744133114000048

Chapter

Mannion, R, Davies, H, John, B, McHale, J, Millar, R, Powell, M & Snowden, N 2018, Speaking up or blowing the whistle for better, safer care. in Global Patient Safety: Law, Policy and Practice.