Psychological ownership - insights from health and social care: ‘Building Back Better’ requires us to understand ‘ownership’ at work and its links to authentic participation

COVID-19 has resulted in unprecedented levels of both government funding and restrictions to our daily life. While health and care systems and their workers have adapted to the new environment, Whitehall has introduced further centralised command and control measures. However comforting these approaches are in a crisis; they are unlikely to be effective in delivering better care or be welcomed by staff, patients or stakeholders in the long-term. As new forms of service models emerge, understanding how to develop greater staff ownership over work (and the centrality of employee-engagement) is vital.