Clinical leadership is an essential aspect of midwifery, and midwives have been reminded time and again how vital it is to the delivery of safe and effective maternity services, most recently with the publication of the Ockenden Report (Department of Health and Social Care, 2022). There is now a new opportunity for midwives to develop a broader understanding of healthcare leadership and delivery, and gain the skills and experience to become clinical leaders of the future.
The NHS Regional Clinical Leadership Fellow Scheme was formed through partnership between the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management (FMLM) and NHS England and NHS Improvement. It has been established to expand opportunities and support aspiring clinical leaders to gain experience of system leadership, transformation and service improvement, which will equip them with the skills they need to lead a complex, changing and more integrated NHS in the future (FMLM, 2022). This scheme proudly includes a diverse range of health professionals, including doctors, nurses, midwives, allied health professionals, dentists and pharmacists, to reflect the diversity of the clinical workforce.
The first cohort of the scheme commenced in September 2021. Among the multidisciplinary group of successful applicants were three midwives, selected from different regions of the country.
Anna Temke: senior midwife, delivery suite team leader
Anna works for the South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Anna graduated as a midwife in 2004 and worked in various non-clinical roles from the age of 17. After having her own children, she decided that midwifery was her ideal career. She became a delivery suite team leader 7 years ago and also works with her local Maternity Voices Partnership, the Trust Patient Experience team and sits on the Steering Group for UKMidSS. Four years ago, she completed an MSc in transformational leadership, with the aim of getting the most out of the midwifery workforce and supporting her colleagues to reach their full potential.
As a clinical fellow, Anna has been placed with the chief midwife for the North East and Yorkshire, Tracey Cooper MBE, and her team. She has become involved in many aspects of the work of the team and is especially interested in tackling the health inequalities that exist in maternity services. Anna has been working on projects to improve equity and equality within her region, including involvement with projects to improve interpreting and translation services, and learning more about the role that social prescribing can play in the delivery of maternity care. As a clinical fellow, she has had the opportunity to link with ongoing work nationally to reduce health inequalities. Anna is also leading on another project to improve the experience of the maternity workforce during these challenging times.
Anna has thoroughly enjoyed seeing how national policy is translated into regional and then to Trust level and inputting into this process, but equally in feeding back into the national priorities from a local perspective.
‘Everyone is capable of making a difference whether that be small scale within your own practice or unit, or regionally or nationally. Look for opportunities to make a difference to the people you care for, but equally to the staff you are working alongside.’
(Anna)
Sarah Paxman, clinical risk midwife
Sarah works for the West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust. Sarah had been a midwife at local Trust for 19 years, and a clinical risk midwife for 5 years when she applied to become a clinical fellow. She developed a passion for risk management and quality improvement, and was keen to develop her career and broaden her horizons outside of her specialist area. She found out about the NHS Regional Clinical Leadership Fellow Scheme when her manager circulated an email about the opportunity, and was delighted to be appointed as a clinical fellow with NHS England and NHS Improvement in the London region.
Sarah has been able to benefit from a range of opportunities on her clinical fellow placement so far. She has worked with the London testing cell on a project about asymptomatic staff COVID-19 testing, which involved surveying the views and experiences of 3250 NHS staff working in the London region. Sharing the findings and recommendations from this project gave Sarah the opportunity to meet and work with national healthcare leaders from NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency, as well as ICS and Trust leads in London.
Sarah is also developing her knowledge and experience in the fields of patient safety, patient experience and quality improvement by working with the London complaints team, and Kate Brintworth (chief midwife, London) on various projects.
‘I've met so many inspiring clinical leaders and feel like a student again – taking it all in and learning so much every day. It's really exciting to have a fresh challenge, after so many years working for the NHS, and I'm loving every minute of it.’
(Sarah)
There is an academic programme that runs as an important component of the NHS Regional Clinical Leadership Fellow Scheme, which all participants attend monthly. Sarah has really enjoyed having a little time for reading and study, and is finding that this is an important part of her learning and development. Sarah reports that it feels really great to be part of something that treats all professions as equally important in terms of clinical leadership in the NHS.
Sascha Koutrouza, specialist midwife
Sascha is a specialist midwife and quality and safety improvement programme manager at the East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust. Sascha has always been a midwife who challenges processes and systems, but never really had a chance to develop that interest further until the NHS was faced with COVID-19. As a diabetes specialist midwife, Sascha was coordinating care for a high-risk cohort of women, and as the pandemic started, she transformed her local diabetes pathway into a fully virtual service, at pace, with fantastic results. Sascha's innovative work was recognised nationally, and she was awarded the Chief Midwifery Officer's Silver Award in 2020.
The impacts of this inspired Sascha to continue change and development of systems and services. At this point, Sascha undertook education and training to further her career in quality and safety improvement, project management and strategy. Upon hearing about the NHS Regional Clinical Leadership Fellow Scheme, which focused on leading regional transformational change, Sascha felt she had found the ideal way to help her achieve her career goals.
Sascha was placed in the East of England Regional Maternity Team with Wendy Matthews, regional chief midwife, as her line manager and mentor. Sascha has been leading on several projects spanning across the quality, workforce and transformation work streams. One of these projects includes standardising and improving the quality and safety of maternity urgent care services. This has provided the opportunity to work alongside inspirational leaders, teams and clinicians across the eighteen maternity units in the east of England.
‘It's fantastic to see all of the leadership schemes emerging. I chose the [NHS Regional Clinical Leadership Fellow Scheme] with FMLM because being given the chance to work with regional maternity leaders at regional level is an exceptional opportunity. The leadership and project management study modules alongside the transformational opportunities, aligned perfectly with my development needs and career planning.’
(Sascha)
Conclusion
In summary, this type of clinical leadership fellow scheme is an ideal opportunity for midwives who are looking to develop their careers and build their leadership skills and experience. Despite current workforce challenges, time spent on these schemes is extremely valuable for maternity services, as well as the successful applicants. The scheme is fully supported by the Chief Midwifery Officer for NHS England and NHS Improvement.