Next Step: Leadership and Management Fellows Programme

Transforming healthcare through applied leadership 

An innovative programme that will provide important tools, knowledge and confidence for prospective trainees to thrive as leaders and managers within the NHS. 

The context of leadership and management within the NHS has never been more challenging due to the pressures of a complex future.  In response, Health Education England - East of England are working with a powerful collaboration from King’s Health Partners, King’s Business School, the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management and The King’s Fund to deliver an innovative programme. The programme benefits from:

• Rigour and expertise drawn from a world-class university.
• Clinical insight through the lens of a leading Academic Health Sciences Centre.
• Cutting-edge content to tackle the challenges in delivering leadership and management successfully through specialist intervention.

About the Next Step programme  

The Next Step Programme is an eleven-month immersive development experience accredited by the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management (FMLM). Each year, 70 Leadership and Management Fellows from across the East of England will be equipped with the tools and confidence to thrive as leaders and managers within a complex environment.

Fellows will then use this expertise to act as leaders, sharing leadership and management insights with other trainees and healthcare professionals from within their organisations.    

The programme will be delivered in four blocks of activity. Each will include a face-to-face workshop which will allow Fellows to address emerging issues and focus on new skills and adaptability needed for the years ahead. These will be supported by online programme elements and a 1-2-1 coaching session to debrief your 360 evaluation and report.

Who can join? 

The programme is aimed at trainees are within two training years of expected CCT date at time of commencing the Next Step: Leadership and Management Fellows Programme and will therefore be starting to take on increased managerial and leadership responsibilities. 

This programme directly addresses these needs and prepares the Fellows with both a thorough understanding of themselves, input into leadership and management within the healthcare context; but also provides a growing network of Fellows that will be mutually supporting as they take the next steps in their careers.

The programme is open to senior trainees (of all disciplines; from Primary Care, Secondary Care and Mental Health) within two training years of their expected certification of completion of training date, and who will still be in a training programme in the east of England at the end of July 2024.   

 

What will the programme cover?

Total anticipate commitment of hours within the programme is 120 over the course of the year including the Fellows Quality Improvement Project which each Fellow will be expected to undertake as part of the programme.  Kay elements of this include 4 face-to-face days covering:

Module 1 – The Healthcare Context:

This first module provides an orientation for the Fellows to the programme and the organisation of Healthcare and Health Economics, this module provides details to Fellows of their membership of the FMLM and the associated benefits of this.

Module 2 – Leadership and Influence

This module introduces the essential business skills required to succeed in today's volatile healthcare environment. This will be an interactive session to sharpen Fellows skills by exploring a number of themes such as Presentation skills; Influence and empathy; Handling difficult questions; Successful behaviours; and Decision making.

Module 3 – Knowledge Transfer and Systems Leadership

Delivered by the Kings Fund this module addresses Compassionate Leadership, contemporary issues in healthcare; and Integrated Care System explained.  The module concludes with an informal networking event allowing Fellows from the cohort, and from the previous graduates, to come together to meet and share their experiences.

Module 4 – Capstone, best practice, and next steps:

The final module is a presentation day for the participants on their Quality Improvement Projects. The projects will be assessed by an Executive Panel from The King’s Fund, King’s Health Partners, Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management (FMLM) and King’s Business School.

The panel will choose the five best Quality Improvement Projects and during a Fellowship Awards ceremony those five participants will receive a bursary to cover the fee for FMLM Associate Fellowship.

In addition to the four face-to-face days there is a series of online masterclasses delivered live by faculty from King’s Business School and from King’s Health Partners:

Online masterclass 1 – The Quality Improvement Project:

Delivered by King’s Health Partners.   The session will be 2 hours and will discuss the underlying principles, approaches and methods and how to plan and deliver quality improvement.  This masterclass will outline the process of working with your supervisor and will include how Fellows can access the series of Action learning Sets and drop-in surgeries that will be provided for them to support their project through the programme. 

Online masterclass 2 – Crises Management:

This online masterclass presents the challenges associated with leading in crisis, providing an outline of how critical situations arise and evolve in a healthcare setting. The session will be run interactively in an MBA format, using real life cases from other safety critical industries. You will explore generic crisis management interventions that are applicable in a healthcare setting and beyond.

Online masterclass 3 – Understanding finance in a healthcare setting:

In this online masterclass Fellows will work interactively to interpret financial data, gain an overview of key financial trends in the NHS and deconstruct a set of financial statements from a relevant NHS trust.  The objective of the online masterclass is to quickly improve the financial literacy of Fellows and enhance their understanding of the financial context within which they operate as clinicians.

Online masterclass 4 – Disruptive thinking and intrapreneurial skills

We live in an uncertain world and the future is going to be shaped by those bold enough to lead and to create the world in which they want to live. This may seem grandeous but if you think about the products and services you use on a daily basis be that in travel, finance, entertainment, technology or even dating.

Each of these innovations started with someone who was willing to question the way things are done, someone willing to solve a problem or take advantage of an opportunity. In this masterclass Fellows will be taken through a variety of tools, exercises, and games to help them bring out their inner disruptor. We will look at techniques Fellows can employ to come up with new and innovative ideas and apply these techniques to real challenges in the health care system today.

Online masterclass 5 – Approaches to Change Management in Healthcare:

The management of change is essential to any leadership role, and especially in healthcare where change is not only ubiquitous but difficult. However, change takes different forms and is based on different assumptions in terms of the purpose and nature change. This masterclass explores different models of change and their application to the healthcare context. It considers whether the contrasting tenets underpinning these different models impact our understanding of why, how and with effect change is enacted in healthcare.   

Online masterclass 6 – Care integration: 

More integrated, coordinated and multi-disciplinary working has been a prominent trend in several healthcare systems over the past decades. It has, however, also been difficult to achieve. This online masterclass provides an overview of research on care integration from several different perspectives: a high-performance work systems perspective; a professions sociology perspective; and an employment relations perspective.

In analysing the common problem of care integration, these perspectives have highlighted different conditions and challenges for integrating different occupations, services and sectors.   

In addition to the taught elements of the programme Fellows will benefit from the following value-added programme elements:

1. 12-month Membership of the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management for all Fellows, allowing access to the suite of content available through FMLM and relevant networking events and opportunities
2. FMLM Associate Fellowship application fee discounted to £200 per application for each Fellow upon graduation from the Next Step Programme (discount is valid for two years after completion of the programme). In addition, the top five best individuals in each cohort will have their applications funded by Kings.
3. The FMLM 360 tool and feedback for all Fellows. FMLM accredited coaches will facilitate individual 360 debrief sessions.
4. The programme includes two networking events with current and from other Fellows programmes and will conclude with an informative session on how participants can join King’s Executive Alumni Association and gain access to King’s Alumni benefits; join the Graduates Mentor pool and support subsequent cohorts, enabling the transfer of their new knowledge to others.

Who will we hear from - About the delivery partners:

The Next Step: Leadership and Management Fellows Programme brings together the powerful combination of expertise into a single programme:

• The Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management (FMLM), established in 2011 by all the UK medical royal colleges and faculties and endorsed by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, is the UK professional home for medical leadership. Our primary objective is to raise the standard of patient care by improving medical leadership.
• The King’s Fund is an independent charitable organisation working to improve health and care in England. Founded in 1897 by the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, to raise money for London’s voluntary hospitals. The work of the Fund has evolved over time in response to the changing needs of the population, but our mission – to improve health and care for all – has endured. The money invested in the Fund more than a century ago provides a substantial proportion of our income, enabling us to maintain our independence. We are not aligned with any political, professional or any other interests.
• Kings Health Partners (KHP) is an Academic Health Sciences Centre where world-class research, education and clinical practice are brought together for the benefit of patients. We are here to translate cutting-edge research and existing best practice into excellent patient care.
• King’s Business School (KBS) undertake ground-breaking research that improves the way people do business. And we engage with organisations around the world to create real value for society. Since 1989, King’s Business School has grown into a leading management institution – and one of the largest in London. We’ve appeared in the top 10 for business and management studies three years in a row. 

Dates and logistics   

Applications opened on Monday 24^th April 2023, and will close on Saturday 26th August 2023.

Face-to-face workshops will take place at The British Racing School, Snailwell Road, Newmarket CB8 7NU and at Bush House at the Strand in London (Government regulations permitting). Trainees will be expected to be able to make their own arrangements for attending face-to-face workshops.

A summary of key delivery dates:

Face to face sessions:

• Module 1 – 5^th October 2023 at the British Racing School in Newmarket
• Module 2 – 13^th December 2023 at the British Racing School in Newmarket
• Module 3 – 22^nd February 2024 at Bush House, Strand, London
• Module 4 – 24^th July 2024 at the British Racing School in Newmarket

Masterclasses: 

The programme has 6 formal afternoon Masterclasses, these are delivered online and attendance at 4/6 of these is mandatory. 

• Masterclass 1 – 17:00-19:00 13^th September 2023
• Masterclass 2 - 17:00-19:00 8^th November 2023
• Masterclass 3 - 17:00-19:00 10^th January 2024
• Masterclass 4 - 17:00-19:00 1^st February 2024
• Masterclass 5 - 17:00-19:00 6^th March2024
• Masterclass 6 - 17:00-19:00 17^th April 2024 

Action Learning Sets:

The programme also includes four 90-minute small group sessions which will be held via Zoom with Daghni Rajasingam or Martin Fischer, in groups of 6. These will be held between November 2023 and April 2024. The following four topics will be covered:

Topic 1 – What is the problem and why is it a problem
Friday 17^th November or Saturday 18^th November (10 slots across the two days available)

Topic 2 – Engaging the multiple perspectives including organisation and systems
Friday 26^th January or Saturday 27^th January (10 slots across the two days available)

Topic 3 – Logic model for change – facilitators and barriers at all levels
Thursday 7^th or Friday 8^th March (10 slots across the two days available)

Topic 4 – Action for change
Friday 12^th or Friday 19^th April (10 slots across the two days available) 

Funding and Next Steps

The programme is fully funded by Health Education England. Those accepted onto the programme are expected to apply for study leave on the program dates at the time of accepting the application. Where this is not possible (because of rotations/lack of rotas during the time of the course) they should notify the trusts to which they will be rotating at the earliest opportunity.

We will be requesting Trusts to facilitate attendance at the start of the programme as it is within the study leave notification period.

Except in exceptional circumstances trainees are expected to attend all the face-to-face sessions and at least 4/6 of the Masterclasses.

➝ Please complete the application form using this link. N.B You will be required to upload an up-to-date CV and two supporting statements within the application form.