Foreword

Abstract

Extract As a previous Surgeon General (Head of the UK Defence Medical Services) and now Medical Director of the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management, I have spent many years in healthcare leadership roles and care passionately about the importance of developing medical leadership capability. I am therefore delighted to have been asked to provide the foreword to the Oxford Professional Practice Handbook of Medical Leadership and Management. Good leadership has a significant role in the success and effectiveness of any team or organization. In terms of healthcare, good medical leadership has a proven positive effect on patient experience and the quality of care provided. It is underpinned by the leader’s own values and tenacity. These skills are crucial, and the effect will have a major impact on the contribution of team members and the working environment within the team. This dynamic is also critical to the success of wider collaborations within both organizations and integrated care systems. Leadership is one of those disciplines where there is always something new to learn. Moreover, all doctors require and use the skills of leadership in their clinical practice, so that knowledge and a recognition of a development need should not just be restricted to those in a formal leadership or managerial role.