Some of you might know me, but some of you won’t, so let me introduce myself. After working for 20 years in the NHS, in April 2015 I resigned from my job as Chief Executive and Accountable Officer of a Clinical Commissioning Group, and ‘left’ the NHS. I started up a new company, Ockham Healthcare, which is part think tank, part consultancy. But is it possible for someone like me, ‘born and bred’ in the NHS, to build a successful company outside of the NHS?

A colleague said to me a few years ago that public sector executives are not, and never can be, entrepreneurs. He said we lacked whatever it is that is required to make a new company successful. His rationale was that we have all become too indoctrinated by the public sector mentality of days filled with quality committees and audit committees and the like, and of doing whatever we are told from on high, to ever be able to build something from the bottom up.

Maybe he is right. I don’t want to believe it, and in many ways what I am doing now is an experiment in proving the validity (or otherwise!) of his hypothesis. I don’t mind being the guinea pig!

One thing that I can say is that I now earn a lot less money. There is a frightening statistic that 50% of new businesses fail in the first year, and 95% fail within 5 years. So far outgoings have indeed exceeded incomings, but I am told that if I can end the first year even with a small loss I will be doing well. But for me this isn’t the point. The challenge I have set for myself is whether I can put my energy and effort into creating something that I am proud of, that feels like a force for good, and that makes a positive difference to all those that it touches (whether they are staff, clients, partners or patients).

That said, I still have to make a living. I had saved enough to make it through a year. Whether I can make it through two remains to be seen! I plan to share my adventure into the unknown through this column, to share whatever I learn about life after the NHS, and to discover whether it is even possible for me to stay outside the NHS.

My starting point is general practice. I am trying to find ways of providing support that can help general practice get through the genuinely difficult position it is in right now. Whether or not general practice wants my support is another matter, but I am putting together tools to help GP practices who are in real trouble and need to make big changes. If you know GP practices that could benefit from my help please put them in touch – help me make a difference!

My next column will be in two weeks’ time. In the meantime, if there is anything you want to know, experiences that you can share, or advice that you think can help, please get in touch via ben@ockham.healthcare.