The Future Hospital Commission report hightlighted the need to establish new, senior leadership roles focusing on the delivery high quality, safe care. As a result, the Future Hospital Programme (FHP) is piloting the role of chief registrar to determine the skills, protected time and training needed to support this new leadership position.
The chief registrar pilot project has successfully launched its second cohort with 12 new chief registrars across a further 11 trusts. With 22 dual training specialty ST5+ doctors now appointed to the role across 19 organisations, the pilot aims to develop and prepare trainee doctors as medical leaders and quality improvement champions of the future.
Delivered by the RCP Education Department in partnership with the RCP Future Hospital Programme, the pilot, an original recommendation of the Future Hospital Commission (FHC) report, is testament to the RCP’s continuing commitment to valuing, supporting and motivating trainees.
Phase two
Over the next 6 months, the chief registrars will attend a bespoke training programme designed and delivered by a partnership between the RCP and the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management (RCP), to expose them to the latest ideas in leadership, management, and quality improvement.
Crucially, the chief registrars remain clinically active, participating in the acute medical take, enabling them to develop practical solutions to local problems linked to national agendas, an example of distributive leadership.
Bridging the gap between junior doctors and senior clinical decision makers, the initial intake [hyperlink] of chief registrars has already seen a range of innovative initiatives undertaken to support workforce transformation, service redesign and quality improvement.
Dr Emily Bowen, chief registrar at Gloucester Hospitals NHS Trust said:
I really believe that moving decision making closer to the 'shop floor' is one of the most important ways to make genuine service improvement. Both clinicians and managers have a huge amount to offer - we need better ways of understanding our mutual strengths (and weaknesses) to deliver better care for our patients.
The chief registrar will go some way towards beginning this journey, with benefits to patients, staff and management.
Gerrard Phillips, RCP vice president for education and training and clinical lead for the chief registrar project said:
The chief registrar project is really beginning to come to life and we’ve already seen some great initiatives and ideas from our initial cohort who started in April. Importantly we’ve also started to gain traction across a number of national organisations, who also share our vision in positioning chief registrars as innovators.
As part of the Future Hospital Programme, we aspire to facilitate the evolution of an NHS that supports effective delivery of high quality patient-centred care, with a valued, supported and motivated workforce. I look forward to celebrating the positive impact I know that our chief registrars will continue to have within their teams, trusts and organisations.
Follow @RCPLondon on Twitter and join the conversation using the hashtag #FutureHospital.