Leadership commitment at the Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust

Dr Laura Myers, a leadership fellow in medical education working in Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, shares her reflections on how the FMLM Leadership Commitment inspired her to create a more positive culture towards promoting leadership development for trainees within the organisation.

The FMLM Leadership Commitment for Junior Doctors rightly emphasises that trainee involvement in clinical leadership improves both the quality of training junior doctors receive and the care delivered to our patients. The pressures of working in a busy hospital during a pandemic have been felt by all trainees, with a notable reduction in training opportunities, as highlighted in the GMC national training survey[1]. The need to positively engage with and celebrate the efforts of our junior doctor workforce has never been more apparent and improving access to leadership development is one way to do this.

Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust already had good foundations in leadership development, with monthly junior doctor forums attended by senior management and regular drop-in sessions with senior leaders within the organisation. The commitment to recruit clinical leadership fellows also demonstrates the organisation’s positive leadership culture.

However, the FMLM Leadership Commitment for Junior Doctors has enabled me to compare what Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust already offered in terms of leadership development for trainees and where potential improvements could be made. I used it as a blueprint to design a personalised form for the organisation: ‘The Rotherham Leadership Charter’. This aims to inspire a more collective approach towards leadership development, by promoting existing opportunities as well as exploring new avenues of engaging trainees in leadership.

As a result, some improvements have already been made, including updating the Post Graduate Medical Education website to allow it to be used as a base to highlight opportunities available and signpost to relevant resources, including clear information on applying for fellowship posts. There will soon be profiles of senior leaders within the hospital in order to demystify these roles and improve visibility – after all, you can’t be what you can’t see. Pending outcomes include the development of a leadership forum to discuss new innovations and ensure the culture of leadership in firmly embedded.

These sorts of changes often take time but by using the framework of FMLM’s Leadership Commitment and personalising it for our organisation, I am hoping it will lead to a more empowered junior doctor body, which will in turn help to drive change and quality improvement. I have been very fortunate as a clinical leadership fellow to have access to many opportunities and believe that adopting the principles of the FMLM Leadership Commitment for Junior Doctors will hopefully make these opportunities accessible for all junior doctors. This is essential if we want to ensure that all of tomorrow’s leaders are ready to lead.

[1] The General Medical Council (2021) National Training Survey 2021 Results. Internet accessed at https://www.gmc-uk.org/-/media/documents/national-training-survey-results-2021---summary-report_pdf-87050829.pdf