Supporting the development of future clinical leaders

Career progression within the NHS has traditionally been based on technical and academic ability at the expense of the so-called 'softer' attributes, such as emotional intelligence.

As a result, good clinical leaders have not always been identified, nurtured and developed by the system, but have emerged due to a mixture of their own ability, self-motivation, luck and patronage.

This has led to significant variation in the standards of clinical leadership within and between different NHS organisations and has had an impact on the standard of care provided to patients. The inquiries and resulting reports into clinical negligence at Bristol, Alder Hey and Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells all highlighted organisational deficiencies in clinical leadership.