A review of the Health Foundation's leadership programmes 2003-07

The Health Foundation believes that improved leadership in the healthcare system is an important way to improve the quality of healthcare in the UK. This review evaluates our investment in leadership development over the past five years.

Background

The Health Foundation started investing in leadership development for clinicians and managers in UK healthcare organisations in 2003. At this time there was insufficient funding for developing leaders and limited learning from what was being undertaken. Our aims were to produce more and better leaders, to learn what works and to share it widely. This review describes the history, evolution and impact of our investment.

The Leadership Programme

The Health Foundation ran eight leadership schemes between 2003–07 for individuals and teams. Over 200 people have received awards, most of who work for the NHS.

The policy context

Late in the 20th century, policy pointed to the importance of leadership, particularly clinical leadership. However, there has been inconsistency and lack of coherence in addressing the needs of the workforce for high-quality leadership development. The Health Foundation has been able to fill this gap to a limited but significant extent.

Contents

• Chapter 1 Background to The Health Foundation’s Leadership Programme 2003–7
• Chapter 2 Scheme-by-scheme reviews
• Chapter 3 Discussion
• Appendix 1 Aims and objectives of the internal evaluation of the Leadership Programme 2003–06
• Appendix 2 Self-reported service improvement actions for project-based awards