FMLM support throughout Covid-19

FMLM believes that the Leadership and Management Standards for Medical Professionals provide the values and behaviours that are essential to optimise patient care and support to colleagues and staff. In an ideal world any crisis operation/scenario would be approached in three phases: planning and preparation; the campaign/task itself; post campaign wash-up and lessons learnt, with support for those involved and clear direction for a supportive return to the new ‘normality’.

The rapid proliferation Covid-19 has effectively merged the preparation phase into the task itself. We are therefore considering the following response:

1. Early – Preparation and the need to play catch up in areas hit early with rapid escalation. To help with understanding of role sand context, FMLM will consider leadership styles and teamwork, resilience, action logics and complexity (cynefin framework).

2. Sustaining the response – Here we will consider the ongoing effects of meeting the task and working to new norms (which does not imply stability). The challenges will include continued resilience in the face of sustained pressure; taking risks based on first principles; being brave; managing stressful situations and difficult decision making. There will be a great need to support colleagues and promote good compassionate team work.

3. Post-coronavirus -We will consider returning to a very different normality; adrenaline withdrawal (going back to the more mundane and the resurfacing of bureaucracy); holding it (and society) together. Overuse of the retrospectoscope and blame will be the enemies of the vital lessons we must learn.

All of the online support we are offering will be hosted on our Covid-19 support page and this will be reviewed on a daily basis throughout this period of increased pressure.

Our role can perhaps best be summarised by Dame Clare Marx, Chair of the GMC and former Chair of FMLM: doctors will stop at nothing to provide care during this crisis, and our job is to support them.