Good leadership is recognised as central to the delivery of effective healthcare, yet surprisingly little is known about the extent to which different types of leadership development contribute directly to better patient care.
Through a range of leadership schemes, The Health Foundation is evaluating different approaches to leadership development, not only to individuals but also to multidisciplinary teams and organisations. Our aim is to build a better understanding of the most effective ways to invest in leadership development for quality improvement.
What are we doing?
- Leadership development for individuals
- Leadership development for teams
Leadership development for individuals
We invest in developing the leadership skills of individuals with demonstrable potential to lead quality improvement. We believe that effective, skilled leaders lie at the heart of lasting improvements to healthcare. We offer high-quality leadership development opportunities – free of charge - to healthcare professionals from a wide range of organisational and professional backgrounds across the UK.
We are looking for highly motivated and ambitious individuals who want to fulfill their potential to improve the quality of patient care and inspire their teams and others to do the same.
About The Health Foundation’s leadership schemes
Our unique leadership schemes combine both personal and professional development and expose participants to a wide range of quality improvement tools and techniques. We use a variety of approaches – including coaching, learning sets, seminars, workshops, taught courses, overseas experience and personalised support.
Our schemes are work-focused and keep leadership development relevant to the real situations, problems and challenges that participants face on a daily basis. For some of our schemes, participants choose a work-related project as the focus of their work for the duration of the scheme.
A multi-disciplinary approach
The realities of working in healthcare are reflected in the multi-disciplinary nature of our schemes. Participants come from a range of organisational and professional backgrounds from across the UK. Participants find that being part of such a multi-professional, cross-organisational group stimulates learning and facilitates invaluable networking opportunities, both during the scheme and beyond.
Free of charge
The Health Foundation leadership schemes are offered free of charge for those who take part. We operate an open but highly competitive application process and places are limited. This enables us to select the very best individuals – those who can make a disproportionate difference to improving the quality of care – and this in turn enriches the experience for other participants. In return, we demand a high level of commitment from our participants as well as their organisations.
Organisational support
We look for active support from participants’ organisations – allowing them the time out to complete the scheme as well as providing the real projects and challenges that will play an important role in consolidating learning. Such support enables participants to turn their insights into tangible improvements that bring ongoing benefits to their organisations and, more importantly, to patients.
An independent approach
As an independent charitable foundation, we are focused on providing the very best in leadership development. Participants relish the opportunity to step back from their day to day job and approach the challenges they face from a different perspective, with the support of their scheme leaders and peers.
In order to help us make sure we are delivering the most effective leadership development, we evaluate all our leadership schemes thoroughly. Evaluation enables us to make refinements to individual schemes and also to generate learning about effective methods of leadership development from which others can benefit.
The Health Foundation currently offers the following leadership schemes for individuals:
- Clinician Scientist Fellowships
- Harkness/Health Foundation Fellowships
- Health Foundation Leadership Fellows
- Leaders for Change
- Quality Improvement Fellowships
Leadership development for teams
Through two different schemes, The Health Foundation is exploring how far investing in leadership development across multidisciplinary teams produces improvements in patient care.
Trusts and organisations working with us on our Safer Patients and Engaging with Quality initiatives are also receiving leadership development support to help them achieve the programmes' ambitious goals.
- Read more about the Safer Patients Initiative
- Read more about Engaging with Quality Initiative
Tony BellChief Executive, Royal Liverpool Children’s Hospital NHS Trust Read Tony's article about leadership
"I have seen individuals from within my trust develop both personally and professionally through their participation in The Health Foundation's leadership schemes."
Sir Ian Carruthers OBEChief Executive of the South West Strategic Health Authority"The Health Foundation is building a cadre of skilled, motivated professionals who have the right leadership potential and a dedication to improve the quality of service delivered to NHS patients."