title: Clinical leadership: the elephant in the room.
abstract: The article explores the concept of clinical leadership in the National Health Service in the UK by seeking to establish a workable definition and by contrasting it with managerial leadership, focussing on the 'disconnected hierarchy' in professional organizations. It proposes that the problems faced by clinical leadership relate to the current nature of general management in the NHS and concludes by suggesting that clinical leadership is the 'elephant in the room'-often ignored or unaddressed.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health Planning & Management, University of Keele, UK. john.edmonstone@btinternet.com
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Edmonstone
mesh_terms: D006270:Health Facility Administrators; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D007857:Leadership; D011320:Primary Health Care; D013222:State Medicine; D006113:United Kingdom