Introduction Leadership and management are core skills for doctors in all specialties with one of the key updates in the soon-to-be implemented GMC Good Medical Practice (2024) focussing on ‘fair and inclusive leadership’. We have restructured the NHSE East Midlands’ Leadership and Management programme (LMP) for doctors in training, from a three year course to a three phase programme, to promote training flexibility and inclusivity. An initial scoping survey identified several barriers preventing junior doctors in the region from accessing the programme, including lack of awareness, limited availability of places and short notice of course dates. Survey responses also identified the relevance of the course content as an issue. Our redesign of the LMP has looked to address these issues and we reflect upon the progress that has been made so far.

Aims and objectives of the research project or activity The overall aim of the project is to promote access to and quality of Leadership and Management training for East Midlands trainees. The objectives are to enhance course relevance (by aligning the new curriculum with the Healthcare Leadership Model and the Medical Leadership Competency Framework), to increase course capacity (by splitting the curriculum between structured e-learning and standardised face-to-face sessions, thus increasing the number of deliverable course places), reduce training variability and to promote awareness of the programme (through wider advertising and increased involvement of regional educational supervisors).

Phase 1 of the programme has now been fully implemented and we will reflect on how these objectives have been met using feedback from trainees who have undertaken phase 1 of the programme from July to November 2023.

Method or approach The NHSE East Midlands LMP is free for all East Midlands trainees, and the redesigned programme has focussed on increasing capacity and providing structured evidence-based training. This has involved the creation of a new curriculum, the design and development of e-learning modules for phase 1 (launched in June 2023) and organisation of key course content into one face-to-face session in phase 1. Qualitative and quantitative participant feedback for the e-learning and face-to-face session has been collected with 91 participants having completed phase 1 to date. Core curriculum content is covered in the e-learning, with the face-to-face session focussing on group discussion and interactive activities to promote self-reflection of leadership styles, understand teamworking, emotional intelligence and compassionate leadership. It also promotes application of higher leadership skills, such as negotiation skills and stakeholder mapping, alongside encouraging participants to identify areas for ongoing development.

Phase 2 and 3 will be implemented in 2024.

Findings Despite initial issues with participants gaining access to the e-learning modules, 89% had no problems enrolling onto the course. Post-course feedback identified that 95% of participants wanted to progress to the next phase of the programme and 95% would be likely or very likely to recommend the programme to friends or colleagues. 89% agreed or strongly agreed that the e-learning modules were relevant to their learning needs.

Feedback following the face-to-face session demonstrated 92% of participants rated the session content as good or excellent with 91% rating relevance to learning needs as good or excellent. Session activities which were most enjoyed by participants included the negotiation exercise, the survival exercise and teamwork discussion (identification of Belbin roles) and the group discussions around personal leadership style. Key themes identified from participants’ ‘main learning points’ from the session included understanding their strengths as a leader and reflecting on how to improve, different leadership styles and awareness of aiming for more situational leadership and effective negotiation skills (including the concept of principled negotiation).

The most commonly suggested improvements included more allocated study leave to complete the e-learning, to increase the number of face-to-face sessions and to provide earlier access to the e-learning.

Key messages The feedback on the re-designed East Midlands LMP so far suggests successful implementation of phase 1, with increased course capacity and strong agreement from participants that the new course material is relevant to their Leadership and Management learning needs.

The key messages we would like to share are the challenges and lessons learnt from implementing phase 1 of the redesigned East Midlands LMP, the organisation of curriculum content into an e-learning package and standardised face-to-face session and participants’ feedback on what has worked well and what needs refining.