No abstract

No abstract

There is a wealth of evidence to highlight the importance and value of formative assessments; however, particularly for foundation doctors, these have typically been focused on assessing clinical capabilities. This HEKSS initiative encourages doctors to recognise leadership opportunities at the beginning of their careers, seeks to help them understand the importance of acquiring leadership skills and provides structured feedback to help them improve. Leadership education for doctors in training is still in its infancy.

The NHS is arguably entering its most challenging era. It is being asked to do more for less and, in parallel, a cultural shift in response to its described weaknesses has been prescribed. The defi nition of culture, the form this change should take and the mechanism to achieve it are not well understood. The complexity of modern healthcare requires that we evolve our approach to the workforce and enhance our understanding of the styles of leadership that are required in order to bring about this cultural change. Identifi cation of leaders within the workforce and dissemination of a purposeful and strategic quality improvement agenda, in part defi ned by the general workforce, are important components in establishing the change that the organisation currently requires. We are implementing this approach locally by identifying and developing grassroots networks linked to a portfolio of safety and quality projects.

Clinical leadership is now part of the curriculum for all doctors in training. This article describes one deanery's approach to the development of clinical leadership.