Hamish Laing
We asked Hamish Laing, Chair, School of Management, Swansea University and Founding Senior Fellow of FMLM, why medical leadership and FMLM Fellowship are so important.
Why is medical leadership so important?
It is vital that healthcare organisations, such as those in the NHS are clinically led and within that it is important that doctors play their part alongside other clinical colleagues. Doctors have the principles and values of the NHS at their core and really understand what healthcare is really about. Their day to day contacts with patients and their families throughout their careers ensures that. Medical leadership is critical for quality, safety and value in healthcare.
How does effective medical leadership improve patient care?
I don’t think most doctors realise how much leadership they provide as they go about their every day work. The other members of the clinical team, the supporting staff, the students, patients and their families all look to doctors for leadership and are influenced by its quality. Great leadership creates a sense of common purpose, inspires others to follow and prioritises the things that are important. It can give confidence in difficult clinical situations and comfort when things don’t go to plan. Leaders advocate for the patient and their carers in a way that takes account of the bigger picture, is effective, compassionate and can influence to create improvement and change.
What inspired you to join FMLM and how important do you see FMLM in enabling you to fulfil your leadership aspirations?
As an aspiring executive director, I was very aware that many aspects of medical leadership and management are something that can be learned and shared. I wanted to know how to do it better and FMLM was an opportunity for personal development. I also valued the credibility it brought to medical management which is sometimes not recognised by either clinical colleagues nor general managers. In the future it will be helpful to demonstrate ongoing learning and development for the purposes of medical appraisal as a medical manager. Finally, it gave an opportunity to support and mentor other colleagues in their leadership and management careers.
What motivated you to apply to become an FMLM Fellow and why do you think FMLM Fellowship is important?
I admire the work of FMLM and the way it has developed so quickly. I like its vision for the future. I didn’t just want to “turn up”, I wanted to play a greater part in medical leadership in the UK. I am absolutely delighted to have been admitted to the Senior Fellowship as a founding member and am honoured by the recognition that it gives to my work in system leadership so far.
Can you tell us about an individual whose leadership has inspired you during your career?
Throughout my training and clinical career, I was fortunate to work for and with many great leaders. It feels slightly invidious to single out one, but if I must it would be Roy Sanders, a plastic surgeon at Mount Vernon who was not only a talented surgeon and a great teacher who helped inspire and support my fledging career in the specialty but who showed me the importance of having a bold vision, getting others to share it and how to be strategic in delivering it. I learned from him how good leaders can adapt their style to suit the circumstance, think laterally and be persistent if something is worth doing. From all of those that inspired me, I learned that working with general management colleagues instead of against them was more likely to be productive and rewarding.