Son of Mathonwy wrote:Banquo wrote:
You are a demanding fella aren't you?
. For me, simply, responsibility can be shared in terms of achieving/executing 'tasks' (e.g. SAGE, PHE, NHSE, DOH, Govt), but accountability cannot eg Govt.
Not really how I see it. I think both can be shared - you can have shared responsibility, you can have shared accountability. Of course it's much better - in both cases - when there is no sharing, or at least when one person or entity is ultimately responsible/accountable.
So from a programmatic viewpoint- Responsibility focuses on defined stuff that must be in place to achieve a goal. Accountability is tied to the successful completion of overall goals and taking responsibility for everything that happens as a result of the actions that were taken. Ultimately you need a single place to point the finger at, and that's accountability. Any further quibbles, ask someone else!
Yeah, I don't completely agree with those definitions. Per the dictionary, "accountable" has a narrow meaning. "Responsible" can mean accountable, but it can have several different (but related) meanings:
"accountable" - obliged to give a reckoning or explanation for actions or decisions
"responsible" - 1) obliged to carry out a duty or care for something
- 2) having to account for one's actions (ie = accountable)
- 3) being the cause of something
- 4) trustworthy
- 5) involving important duties
When I say, the government is responsible for the state of the UK's health system, I mean in senses 2) and 3) [although 1) and 5) do apply to their position], as follows:
2) they have to account for their actions and decisions (ie they are accountable), but also
3) they are the cause of the situation, in the following sense. They are not the cause of every single precise detail of the operation of the NHS (althought they are for PHE) - they didn't start with a blank sheet in 2010. However they are entirely the cause of the state of
functionality of the UK's health system, that is
what it does and how well it does it. If they wanted to increase capacity here, or add functionality here, or reduce this or that, then while they may not have had complete freedom in
how they achieved it, they have had 10 years to achieve it. They are the cause of it whether they built new functionality, destroyed functionality or maintained functionality.
