I would like to say a very big thank you to the Florence Nightingale Foundation, in particular Professor Elizabeth Robb for giving me a fantastic opportunity to develop my leadership skills, knowledge and experience. The Burdett Trust for Nursing must also be acknowledged for sponsoring the Scholarship. I would also like to thank Sue Machell and my mentor Shona Brown for their ongoing support throughout the scholarship.
I have had the opportunity to meet some amazing people through the scholarship in particular thanks to my fellow scholars. We had such a diverse group which has led us to share and learn a lot from each other over the past 18 months.
Finally I would like to acknowledge the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust for supporting me to undertake the leadership scholarship.
I applied for the Leadership Scholarship as I was at a point in my career where I needed to challenge myself both personally and professionally. I was also midway through my MSc in Leadership and Service Improvement and felt the need to stretch myself further in order to add more depth and experience to my theoretical learning. When I was awarded the scholarship I was honored and extremely excited about the challenges and new experiences I would have in the year ahead.
Personal Leadership Development
On commencement of the scholarship I received feedback following the completion of a number of leadership diagnostic tools. The feedback allowed me to think about my personal leadership strengths and areas to develop further. A number of courses were highlighted to me to consider which would potentially support my learning objectives and ongoing development needs.
The scholarship provided me with very useful tools to support me as in my leadership roles now and in the future. Importantly it gave me the opportunity to build my confidence as I recognised that the personal and professional challenges I face as a senior leader in the NHS are very similar to those of my fellow scholars. We were able to support each other and share ideas and solutions which has continued throughout the scholarship and beyond. Meeting a diverse group of people who I would not normally come into contact with has given me the opportunity to hear and learn about an array of issues across the 4 countries in the UK and across specialities.
Career Leadership Development
The scholarship has supported and encouraged me to consider my future career plan in a lot more detail and has opened up opportunities to meet and network with other senior leaders in Acute, Mental Health and Community Trusts nationally in order to build connections and scope opportunities.
The scholarship has since supported me to commence a new role with increased accountability and responsibility.
Patient Care Improvement Project
A study by the NMC suggested more than 30% of patients and visitors to inpatient psychiatric wards would experience an aggressive incident. Patients experiencing or witnessing a violent incident are likely to experience trauma, loss of confidence in service, loss of therapeutic relations and detrimental effects to their recovery. This experience is likely to increase the rates of absence without leave, self-harm and resurgence in violent behaviour.
Violence towards staff contributes towards their sickness levels, this is not only financially costly but also further compromises the safety of wards with staff replaced with agency who may not be able to provide continuity of care.
A new way of approaching this problem was required, and a systematic approach to team working using evidence based safety tools and predictive assessment aims to affect this data positively.
In collaboration with others I have led on developing, testing and leading a Trust wide violence reduction intervention programme. On the pilot sites we have seen a 50% reduction in violent incidents. This led to us successfully gaining funding this year from the Health Foundation to scale up and spread the improvement as part of a collaborative with Devon Partnerships Trust.
Conclusion
The scholarship has provided me with an invaluable and unforgettable experience. Over the past 18 months I have had the opportunity to undertake a number of leadership development courses which have provided me with strategic and personal leadership reflection tools. I now feel more equipped to make a real difference to patient care and staff engagement at a strategic level. I have developed personally and professionally. The experiences and skills that I have developed through the scholarship will continue to influence me as a nurse leader for the rest of my career.