A look back at the push to professionalise medical leadership in the UK
By John Clark
Former Director, Enhancing Engagement in Medical Leadership Project, Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement
I am delighted to contribute to the story of FMLM and celebrate its 10th anniversary.
Back in 2005 I was privileged to lead the joint Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement (NHSI) Enhancing Engagement in Medical Leadership Project. I had a highly committed and passionate steering group that initially included Sir Alan Craft, Chair of the Academy; Dame Carol Black, President of the Royal College of Physicians; Dame Gill Morgan, CEO NHS Confederation; Andrew Foster, Workforce Director-General at the then Department of Health; and Professor Bernard Crump, CEO, at the then NHSI. All were dedicated to the development of a culture within the NHS of greater medical engagement. This could only be achieved through a systematic and coherent approach to ensuring medical students and doctors at all levels acquired relevant medical leadership and management skills at key stages in their training and careers.
I was also fortunate to have a very experienced and energetic project team that ensured high levels of engagement with all the medical professional, regulatory and educational bodies as well as a wide range of medical students, practitioners and leaders. During the life of the project, a medical leadership competency framework (MLCF) was developed and adopted by the medical professions and a suite of e-learning materials made available. A medical engagement scale was also developed to enable health organisations to compare the extent of engagement against a growing set of norms and benchmarks.
As the life of the NHSI was coming to an end in 2011 (to be replaced by NHS Improving Quality in April 2013), it became urgent to ensure the progress made on medical leadership and engagement would not be lost and that its further development should be entrusted to the Academy. With the great support of the late Professor Sir Neil Douglas, Chair of the Academy and subsequently Founding Chair of FMLM, we were able to make the transition from a ‘project’ to the Faculty, which has now become the respected voice of medical leadership in the UK. Kirsten Armit, who had been the project manager from the beginning, transferred to the Faculty as the Chief Operating Officer ensuring continuity and growth. Peter Lees, whose experience as a respected senior NHS medical leader with a life-time passion for enhancing medical leadership and engagement, was persuaded to take on the role of Chief Executive and Medical Director.
Others closer to FMLM are in a better position to list its achievements over the past 10 years, but one of the most significant for me has been the development of the Leadership and Management Standards for Medical Professionals, now in its third edition. FMLM has set itself the challenge of raising the standard of patient care by improving medical leadership. There can be no doubt that through its range of activities it has made a significant contribution to this aspiration over the past 10 years and ensured that medical leadership and management is now increasingly professionalised in the UK.
My congratulations on a highly successful decade and good luck for the next 10 years. The quality of medical leadership is a major determinant of the quality of care and FMLM’s continuing work is critical to this very important challenge.