This year marks the completion of the inaugural Warwick Medical School Leadership programme. The programme was set up to meet student interest and the need for an effective medical student leadership curriculum highlighted by the UK General Medical Council, the NHS Leadership Academy and The King’s Fund.

The programme’s aim is to help produce valued future leaders of the NHS. It focuses on creating an engaging and inclusive curriculum for time poor students from a variety of backgrounds.

To achieve this aim, we needed to not only give our students a foundation in leadership skills but empower and inspire them to continue developing these skills outside the course. We devised 5 components to the course, not only to teach the basics but also to support students in building a network of resources and leadership mentors. Students were given tasks to use these tools to understand their benefits for their own ongoing projects .

Within each of the course’s assessments students showed an understanding and enthusiasm for the course. Comparing their initial ‘project plan’ assessment and the final summative reflection, all students demonstrated a developing understanding of leadership roles, greater personal insight and the desire and confidence to develop as a leader. Within the summative reflection, all students stated the course had a positive impact on their current leadership roles

Within the end of course feedback, when asked what they found helpful about the course, students described developing a support network of peers and mentors, interesting and thought provoking seminars and a new confidence to take on new leadership positions and projects.

We are very pleased with how the first year has been received by the students. We recommend other universities encourage similar courses to run. The course has so far proven self-sustaining, with its students developing the skills required to continue its development and the enthusiasm to take over its leadership.