Introducing the self-administration of medicines into a new district general hospital and newly merged trust can be daunting. Karen Guy and Cheryl Gibbons examine the issues from a leadership and change management perspective

CHANGE IS an ever present feature of organisational life (Burnes 2000) and its pace and magnitude have increased significantly over recent years. Many studies have demonstrated how organisations have experienced substantial changes in what they do and how they do it (Wheatley 1992, Worrall and Cooper 1997). Upton and Brooks (1995) describe how few parts of the NHS remain unchanged and Wright (1998a) observes that continual change in the NHS is inevitable.