Background General practice has been identified as the backbone of the NHS, yet it is under increasing pressure. One change occurring in general practice is the move towards larger organisations from smaller traditional practices. These new structures bring an emerging complexity regarding leadership. It is unknown how well leadership is being executed in super-partnerships. This is an important subject as there is evidence to show that good leadership in a system corresponds to better quality of care delivered. A key aspect that is being missed in current research is how the workforce feels about their leadership roles in these new super-partnerships compared to smaller traditional practices.

Methodology Qualitative interviews with nine general practitioners in the west midlands were undertaken. Exclusion criteria: GPs working as locums or retired. Semi-structured telephone interviews were undertaken following a topic guide and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis was conducted on the transcripts using Braun & Clarke’s six-phase framework with the aid of the software NVivo.

Findings Nine interviews were undertaken, and six main themes were formed: time spent on leadership, motivation, future, leadership style, current challenges and training to create change.

Conclusion This research looks further in-depth at the views of general practitioners towards their leadership roles and challenges that present themselves currently and could do in the future. This research is important as understanding if good leadership is being implemented in these structures can have a positive knock-on effect to many other systems. This topic needs to be closely monitored as these structures develop.