It is accepted that all medical trainees have a leadership role alongside their clinical duties and it is widely required that specialty trainees complete a leadership training course prior to CCT. However there is little training and guidance for more junior trainees, nor a structured pathway of leadership training that would enable trainees to make impactful contributions to their teams and to quality improvement throughout their training journey. Therefore Health Education England aimed to develop a leadership training programme that was accessible from foundation level onwards to inspire and engage trainees and provide a platform to more in-depth training to those with a specialist interest in clinical leadership. This work focusses on the development and delivery of the Introduction to Leadership for Emerging and Aspiring Doctors (I LEAD) course for trainees at Addenbrooke’s Hospital.

Three learning pillars were identified of leading self, leading others/teams and leading for improvement. The themes of patient safety, innovation and resource utilisation were present across each of these pillars. We designed sessions to explore team working, psychological safety, culture & leadership, operational management, quality and service improvement.

Anonymised written feedback was collected from 100 participants. 88% found the study day useful and felt it would change their practice, 9% were neutral and 3% did not find it helpful.

It is our intention that the health care system will benefit in a number of ways. We would anticipate increased staff well-being and retention due to self-management strategies. Skills gained in managing others and the team will lead to more effective and efficient teams. Increased understanding will lead to increased engagement with quality improvement projects and service development. Ultimately the identification and development of the clinical leaders of the future will continue to benefit all stakeholders moving forwards.