Clinical leadership fellow schemes for junior doctors: a brief overview of available schemes and how to apply

Helen Grote; Joanna Smith; Jayne Little; Michelle Horridge

doi:10.7861/fhj.2019-0030

Clinical leadership fellow schemes for junior doctors: a brief overview of available schemes and how to apply

Future Healthc J. 2019 Oct;6(3):172-176. doi: 10.7861/fhj.2019-0030.

Authors

Helen Grote¹, Joanna Smith², Jayne Little³, Michelle Horridge⁴

Affiliations

¹ Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, UK and clinical fellow, Care Quality Commission, London, UK.
² Croydon Health Services NHS Trust, Croydon, UK.
³ Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK.
⁴ Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, Rotherham, UK.

Abstract

Medical training in the UK provides limited exposure to formal training in leadership and management, and yet the role of a consultant or general practitioner requires such skills which deal with commissioning arrangements, service transformation, quality improvement, Care Quality Commission visits, complaints and supervision of junior colleagues. A number of clinical fellowships in leadership now exist to bridge this gap, and provide training in leadership and management, together with experiential learning in a complex organisation. Well-established leadership schemes suited to junior doctors include the National Medical Director's Clinical Fellow Scheme, the Royal College of Physicians' chief registrar scheme, the Darzi Fellowship scheme and local schemes run by Health Education England. Here we describe and compare our experience of these schemes, and outline what junior doctors should consider when applying for a clinical fellowship.

Keywords: Junior doctors; clinical fellowships; leadership schemes.