The first North of England cross-regional networking evening was held on 10 February in venues in Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle. More than 40 doctors from across the region met to network with likeminded clinicians and members of the Regional Council. Members discussed what FMLM and the North of England region are up to and the Regional Council used this opportunity to ask members and non-members what they thought FMLM should be doing at a national and regional level.
Here’s what they said along with our response:
Ensure leadership is taught early. We all know that good leadership is essential in helping us drive excellence in patient care. Leadership theory and skills are relevant at all levels of the medical career, starting with medical students and continuing through to the high levels of medical managers. Therefore it is crucial that our medical students and young doctors are equipped with this knowledge and skill set from an early stage.
FMLM: We agree and with 50% of our members being medical students and doctors in training it's clear the next generation of medical leaders are keen to develop these skills early in their careers. Our medical students group and trainee steering group are champions on behalf of the membership for including more about leadership in curricula and identifying opportunities for medical students and trainees to develop these skills.
As part of the consultation on the development of Medical Leadership Standards we will be talking with all our members, including these future leaders, and the key organisations involved in education, training, regulation and delivery.
Resources that may be of interest to our members are: GMC's Tomorrows Doctors and Leadership and Management for all Doctors; the Medical Leadership Curriculum that links to the former Medical Leadership Competency Framework; and the Healthcare Leadership Model.
Support FMLM to achieve their goals. FMLM should develop ‘champions’ to help spread the FMLM message at a local level. FMLM champions would present the vision and work of FMLM to local organisations and at meetings, including trainee education, grand rounds, management and Board. Suggestions also included setting up member teams to support the central staff team and various programmes of work within FMLM and help spread knowledge and awareness of the organisation.
FMLM: These are great ideas. We already have a number of member roles within the organisation e.g. regional trainee leads and quality improvement leads, as we know our members are our greatest asset and we welcome their ideas and support. We will consider how we can develop these member roles further however if you're interested in being a local champion please get in touch.
Don’t forget Management. So often we focus on leadership goals but FMLM needs to talk more about management and help members develop this essential management skill set.
FMLM: FMLM North of England plans to run a series of networking events across the region with speakers who will deliver workshops on management topics. FMLM is also organising regional conferences for later this year and it is anticipated there will be educational sessions aimed at the development of management and leadership skills.
Supporting Consultants/SAS doctors to develop the skills to be Clinical Leads. The majority of senior doctors have attended several days of a management course at some point in their career which has given them some knowledge of the management skills required to work at the level of a senior clinician. But there is minimal support provided for doctors to develop the management skill set required to be Clinical Lead.
FMLM: This forms part of the standards work FMLM is currently undertaking. Further information will be available over the coming months.
Thank you to all those who attended this inaugural Cross Regional Networking evening. The North of England region plans to hold more events on a regular basis with invited speakers delivering workshops and talks on a relevant leadership, management or quality improvement topics. Keep a look out for more information about these.
