Leaders for Change Review

The Leaders for Change scheme is one of several leadership schemes offered by The Health Foundation. The aim of the scheme is to equip middle and senior professionals who have a leading role in service improvement with the necessary skills and knowledge in managing and implementing change. The award involves:

• undertaking a project (which forms the context for development during the period of the award)
• attending three action learning sets
• attending a modular Change Agent Skills programme
• undertaking a personal development programme
• using an e-learning resource.

The award targets all healthcare professionals (including clinicians and managers) who are able to demonstrate a passion for service improvement and a track record in achieving it. They can be:

• leaders of modernisation/service improvement teams responsible for ongoing service improvement at a local level, or
• clinical and/or managerial staff involved in the leadership of local service improvement.

The scheme is delivered by Lancaster University Management School who provide a modular Change Agent Skills programme, and facilitate the action learning sets.

When the Leaders for Change scheme was designed, we hypothesised that outcomes would be observed at an individual and organisational level. Expectations of patient-level outcomes from the scheme were implicit, rather than explicit, within scheme documentation – particularly for cohort one. The evidence so far suggests that, as hypothesised, the scheme has led to outcomes for award holders and their organisations, including patients. In addition, there is emerging evidence of an impact at regional and national levels. The outcomes observed so far are:

Individual

• Increased levels of confidence
• Improved negotiating and influencing skills
• Ability to network more effectively
• Career development
• Better relationships with line manager and senior staff
• Raised profile within the organisation

Organisational

• Learning from the scheme shared with teams
• Partnerships strengthened
• New collaborations established
• Improvements in the quality of patient care

Regional

• Dissemination of learning from projects at regional level
• Regional partnerships developed or strengthened
• Regional network established

National

• Dissemination of learning from projects at national level

The main focus of this report is the patient-level outcomes that have begun to emerge as the first two cohorts of Leaders for Change have come to a close. The findings are based on data gathered from multiple sources, including award-holder self-evaluation.

One element of the scheme is a focused service improvement project, which provides fertile ground for learning about the process of leading change within the NHS. The project also ensures that award holders are aware of the direct impact that developing their leadership skills can have on improving the quality of patient care.