Aims To create a leadership development programme to help all trainee doctors in the East of England meet the General Medical Council’s Generic Professional Capabilities for Leadership and Team Working.

Methods A scoping exercise was completed followed by development of a curriculum based on the above Generic Professional Capabilities. A leadership development programme called ‘The Leadership Ladder’ was created to deliver that curriculum through online blended learning modules hosted on the platform ‘Bridge’. The Leadership Ladder focuses on three key areas: leadership theory, leadership in practice and reflection. Trainees learn some theory about leadership, go away and put it into practice, then return to reflect on the experience. Collaborators include junior doctors from around the country, local healthcare leaders, and external consultants, with assistance from organisations such as the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership and The King’s Fund. A pilot was run and the feedback from this used to develop future modules. All modules go through a stringent internal quality assurance process.

Results So far, 16 out a proposed 40 modules have been created. As of August 2021, modules have been completed 282 times with trainees giving an average feedback score of 3.64/4. Trainees who complete modules are asked ‘I now have a better understanding of the topics covered in this module’: 56.7% of trainees strongly agreed with this and 42.2% agreed.

Conclusions This work demonstrates that it is possible to deliver high-quality leadership training through a blended learning platform.