Live Q&A: how to improve leadership at your trust

Cambridge University Hospitals’ experience

The chief resident programme at Cambridge University Hospitals Foundation Trust is a healthcare management and leadership training programme for senior trainees who have the potential to become the clinical directors and leaders of the future. It was developed out of the North American “chief resident” role, where each division has one senior trainee who has a range of administrative, pastoral and managerial roles.

The objectives of the programme are to learn the principles and theory behind healthcare leadership and management and to apply these in clinical practice by completing service improvement projects. As such, it represents a credible alternative to the Darzi fellowship, which can be replicated in many trusts around the country.

Are you interested in using this programme in your organisation? Do you have other questions about clinical leadership for our experts? Please submit your questions below. Our experts will be answering your questions in the comments section of this article on Thursday 15 November at 10am.

See Hitting new heights for more background.

Our expert panel

• Dr Jessie Welbourne is a locum consultant in anaesthetics and critical care, writing on behalf of the chief resident cohort 2010-2011.
• Dr Arun Gupta is director of postgraduate education, Cambridge University Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre.
• Stefan Scholtes is the Dennis Gillings Professor of Health Management, Cambridge Judge Business School.
• Dr Jenny Dean is the former executive director, Centre for Health Leadership & Enterprise, Judge Business School, Cambridge University. She is now associate director, KPMG Advisory.
• Dr Jag Ahluwalia is medical director at Cambridge University Hospitals Foundation Trust.