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The National Health Service (NHS) could learn a thing or two from the retailer John Lewis Partnership, according a leading health analyst.

Professor Chris Ham has worked with the Audit Commission, the World Health Organisation, the NHS Confederation and the British Medical Association.

Speaking to the British Medical Journal (BMJ), he said the retail giant had demonstrated what could be achieved when employees see that their actions benefit themselves and the organisation they work for.

John Lewis, which operates 26 department stores and owns the Waitrose supermarket chain, is an employee partnership, which means every permanent member of staff has a stake in the business and earns a share of the profit.

The company believes that this unique ownership structure for a top ten retailer has helped it to engage with its staff and ensure a common desire for the organisation to do well.

The Royal Mail is currently looking at an employee share scheme, with an announcement expected shortly.

Professor Ham believes the NHS, which employs over one million people, could learn from the retail giant's example.

His suggestion is just one of a number of ideas put forward for the BMJ's survey 'How would you save the NHS?'

Another contributor, Peter Carter, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, also urged the government to think about the people who work in the health service.

"We need to stop treating our NHS workers like overheads to be cut and start treating them like assets to be valued," he said.

For Northumberland GP Steven Ford, the answer is to localise services.

"A coherent, locally responsive service, answerable to users directly is preferable to a national business failure with a demoralised workforce," he argued. "Let diversity flourish and to hell with the market."

This comes at a time when the NHS expenditure is coming under increasing scrutiny.

Despite record levels of investment, there are some health trusts running huge deficits, which have resulted in job losses.