Mr Peter Lees

Firstly, as to the ‘why’? There is a significant evidence base linking clinical outcome with leadership and teamwork. Also, it is increasingly being recognised that doctors in training are faced with leadership challenges in their everyday work and that they have a contribution to make to leadership on a broader scale as their inclusion in Care Quality Commission inspection teams attests. Thus, logic dictates that leadership development deserves a prominent place in training curricula.   

But ‘how’? Curricula are already busy and leadership is too complex to simply send people off on a course even if that were logistically possible. Furthermore, as careers progress, the complexity of the leadership skills required progresses and hence there needs to be a continual ‘topping up’ process.   

Finally, leadership is contextual which poses a major challenge to the traditional ‘course’ approach. It is far better that leadership skills are developed by learning from real experiences and where better to do that than within the organisations where doctors work. After all this is how so much clinical medicine is taught – why not teach the two together?   

This complexity has not deterred the East Midlands. In this ambitious, carefully thought-through programme, firstly there is commitment at the highest levels to leadership development for doctors in training. Secondly, the initiative has been led by a doctor in training. Thirdly it has creatively tackled the logistical issues and the need for contextual learning in one fell swoop through an ambitious ‘train the trainers’ approach! Finally, it is the first programme of its kind to base the curriculum on the new UK Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management Leadership and Management Standards for Medical Professionals.   

Along with congratulations to those who have led this initiative with such foresight, there is one final, most crucial observation. If you consider the sheer scale and scope of the endeavour with the evidence base, we can anticipate significant benefits for many patients for many years to come.