Cancer workforce: clinical leadership guidance

Appendix A Examples of Leadership Development in Practice

A.1 Case Study: Crosshouse University Hospital ICU - Embedding a Leadership Development Culture within the Team

Summary: By working with the local Quality Improvement Team, ICU at Crosshouse University Hospital was able to embed a culture of leadership development across the team. The following points summarise how this was achieved.

• Drive for team-focussed framework for improvement came from within the department. ICU Lead Charge Nurse secured budget approval to involve NHS Ayrshire & Arran Quality Improvement Team and devise a tailored framework for ongoing continuous improvement. Aspiration was to embed development in daily business of the team. Senior medical buy-in cited as key success factor.
• Initially entailed three projects per year, largely involving band 6 colleagues and some junior staff. Project focus was based on staff feedback on priority development areas.
• At the beginning found that incentives were helpful for encouraging interest – such as away day events for project launch and updates. However, as projects were underway and results were apparent, morale, interest and desire to be involved grew. Developing projects based on staff feedback and strong emphasis on improving staff wellbeing were cited as key success factors; staff strongly believed they were being listened to.
• As momentum gathered so did external interest and team representatives presented at national events. Gaining recognition at this level added to the sense of reward.

Ayrshire & Arran QI Team is now building on the above to develop a value management framework for improvement. This has attracted Scottish Government interest and has been tested at a selection of Health Boards across Scotland. The premise is to work with teams to identify development priorities and map against four defined value management pillars. Teams receive an allocated amount of QI Advisor support per week.

This approach is proving effective for developing leaders of the future by giving practical experience and providing some with stepping stone to formal NES QI courses. Every team who recruits to the Value Management Framework will be allocated to a local course that links with NES QI and some will be directly recruited to a NES QI as a result of their Value Management Framework experience.