Professor Crump joined Warwick Business School in 2017 after an outstanding career in England’s National Health Service (NHS), where he was appointed as the first CEO of the NHS Institute of Innovation and Improvement before moving into academia and becoming one of the leading improvement advocates in healthcare.

Earlier this year Professor Crump was made an Emeritus Professor at WBS in recognition of his significant contribution to the NHS and healthcare improvement.

Andy Lockett, Dean of WBS and Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, said: “Bernard was the epitome of someone who was able to link academia and practice. Through his role, he was able to have a profound impact on the School’s research and teaching activities in healthcare management.

“His expertise was important in helping faculty enhance the real-world impact of their research. Working closely with colleagues, across a range of different projects, Bernard’s expertise was instrumental in bringing about changes in policy and practice.

“In the classroom Bernard was loved by his students. He was able to bring concepts to life, drawing on his own leadership experience, enabling students to grasp their practical implications.

“However, above all else, Bernard was a highly valued colleague. He was an incredibly kind and selfless individual, always going the extra mile, and willing to help a colleague or student. And he was one of the most grounded people I have had the privilege of working with, which allied to a fabulous sense of humour, made him a wonderful and much-loved colleague.”

Professor Crump studied medicine at the University of Birmingham, graduating in 1980. After postgraduate training in public health medicine, he spent a decade as Director of Public Health in South Birmingham and then Leicestershire, where he was also Deputy Chief Executive of the Leicestershire Health Authority. In 2002 he was made CEO of Shropshire and Staffordshire Strategic Health Authority.

Professor Crump was able to put into practice his long-held passion for healthcare improvement when he was appointed CEO of the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement in July 2005.

He led a team that supported the transformation of the NHS in England through innovation, improvement, the adoption of best practices, leadership development and the cultivation of a culture of continuous improvement.

Evaluations of the improvement programmes and products that the NHS Institute undertook while Professor Crump was CEO showed that they enhanced staff time with patients, improvement capability, efficiency, productivity and patient safety at scale.

As well as being adopted by the majority of healthcare organisations in the NHS, their use spread to Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the US, Denmark, and Ireland. As a result, Professor Crump was widely regarded as a global leader of the healthcare improvement movement.

In 2012, Professor Crump joined Warwick Medical School as Professor of Medical Leadership before moving to WBS. He researched and lectured on a wide range of topics, including aspects of population health, the role of clinicians in management, health and healthcare improvement, the use of metrics in encouraging improvement and the use of health economics in decision-making.

Professor Crump was part of the WBS team that evaluated the partnership between the US-based Virginia Mason Institute (VMI) and the NHS, a five-year project that has produced important lessons for healthcare organisations across the UK.

A week before his death, Professor Crump published an article on the WBS website that took learning from the VMI-NHS partnership evaluation about demonstrating value from healthcare improvement work and considered the implications for healthcare organisations nationally and globally.

In addition to his academic role, Professor Crump served two terms as Regional Chair for the Consumer Council for Water, championing the rights of domestic and business customers in the water industry in England.

Professor Crump will be missed by his many colleagues at WBS, his students, and by healthcare improvement leaders across the UK and around the globe.

A funeral service for Professor Crump will be held on September 20 at Great Glen Crematorium, Leicestershire, at 11.30am.

An online donation page has been set up in memory of Professor Crump for charity Myeloma UK.

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