System Leaders Welcome International Speaker Margaret Heffernan

The Advancing Quality Alliance (AQuA) was delighted to recently welcome back international speaker and businesswoman Margaret Heffernan for an exciting system leadership event, alongside our partners NHS North West Leadership Academy (NWLA), NHS Mersey Internal Audit Agency (MIAA) and the Association of Directors for Adult Social Services (ADASS) North West.

Margaret Heffernan (Image: MHeffernan.com)

Over 100 senior leaders from across AQuA membership and wider health and social care organisations attended the session, held at the University of Manchester; to hear from Margaret and explore the key skills and approaches to successful system leadership, and discuss the challenges in achieving this.

Speaking after the event, Helen Kilgannon, Strategic Portfolio Lead, said:

"We were thrilled to welcome Margaret for this session. She really is an inspirational speaker and described our complex systems, and the various challenges faced by leaders really well.

"She also highlighted a lot of learning from business, and how day-to-day bureaucracy hampers our ability to do a good job and the right thing for people and staff."

Starting her career in television and radio production, Margaret is now also a successful chief executive and author, with her last book The Big Impact of Small Changes, released in 2015. She also regularly delivers talks at a range of high profile conferences across a number of sectors, including the popular TED talks.

Below you can find a multimedia round of some of the tweets and photos from the event, or catch full highlights from the day via the #SL2017 hashtag.

In September, we will also be welcoming The King’s Fund Chief Executive Chris Ham, for the second of our Transformation masterclasses, The Journey to Place Based Care, with NWLA and MIAA. For more information or to book your place, please visit our website.

For more information about Margaret Heffernan, please visit her website or follow her on Twitter @M_Heffernan.

Supporting Leadership Across the North West

The Advancing Quality Alliance (AQuA), in partnership with NHS North West Leadership Academy (NHS NWLA), are pleased to announce an exciting vision setting out how we will be supporting leadership development with our members in the North West.

Our joint paper Leadership and Improvement, outlines how we aim to support members to develop leadership capability across all levels and roles for our members, to help them meet the ongoing demands and pressures faced across the NHS and wider social care sector.

Speaking on its publication, AQuA Chief Executive David Fillingham CBE said:
“The NHS and social care are facing unprecedented challenges. Investing in improvement skills and developing leadership talent will be crucial if we are to deliver the transformation that is so badly needed.

“The new national framework will be a great stimulus to this. We look forward to working in close partnership with NHS North West Leadership Academy to support its implementation.”

The paper comes in response to a number of recommendations set out in two major reports published last year:

• Developing People – Improving Care, published by the National Improvement and Leadership Development Board; a partnership of national NHS, health and social care bodies. This framework sets out a vision for improvement and leadership across all levels of staff working in NHS-funded services
• Developing Systems Leadership – Interventions, Options and Opportunities, from the national NHS Leadership Academy, which outlines how we can support developing the capacity and capability of leaders, to work across organisational boundaries and bring the Five Year Forward View into reality.

Deborah Davis, Managing Director of NHS North West Leadership Academy, said:
“We have a long established relationship with AQuA and together we have a successful track record of delivering joint initiatives.

“I look forward to further enhancing our collaborative relationship, along with other partners in the North West too.”

Organisations in the North West are in a unique position to respond to this agenda, due their ability to draw on both the support from AQuA around quality improvement, change management and improvement leadership, and NHS NWLA’s commissioning for leadership development programmes.

We hope that the paper gives our members a clear understanding of how we hope to work with them in the coming months and years, and effectively respond to the challenges we face.

Download your copy here.

We would welcome further discussions about this work from any of our members, and you can get in touch via AQuA@srft.nhs.uk / nwla.info@nhs.net, or via Twitter @AQuA_NHS / @NHSnwla.

AQuA Members Celebrate Leadership Success at North West Leadership Academy Awards

North West Leadership Academy's Managing Director
Deborah Davis opens the Awards

NHS leaders across the North West recently celebrated a night of success at the North West Leadership Academy’s annual Recognition Awards, for which AQuA was one of the sponsors.

The awards, held at the McDonald Kilhey Court Hotel in Standish, recognised the leading individuals and teams across all levels and professions of the NHS in the North West.

Speaking after the awards, Helen Kilgannon, AQuA’s Head of System Transformation, said:

“It was fantastic to join our colleagues at North West Leadership Academy in celebrating some of the region’s current and rising leaders across the NHS.

“These are individuals that have led some truly outstanding improvements to both patients’ health and experience of the NHS, and for the staff and colleagues they work with on a daily basis.

“AQuA work closely with many of these people, and we are really proud to have such a wealth of talent across the North West.”

AQuA members named among the winners included:

• Emerging Leader - Dr Benita Kane, Consultant in Respitory Medicine, University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust
• Inclusive Leader – Karmini McCann, Head of Workforce Futures, University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust
• Inspirational Leader – Linda Johnstone, Clinical Director, Cheshire & Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
• Leading and Developing People – Dave Sweeney, Deputy Chief Officer, NHS Halton CCG
• Leading Systems Transformation – Andrew Bennett, Chief Officer & Senior Responsible Officer, Better Care Together (Morecambe Bay Vanguard)
• Living the Values – Dr Neil Smith, GP Lead for Cancer, Pennine Lancashire, NHS East Lancashire & Blackburn with Darwen CCG
• Team Outstanding Achievement - Clinical – Prof. Cheng-Hock Toh, The Royal Liverpool & Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust
• Team Outstanding Achievement – Non Clinical – Organisational Development and Training team, University Hospitals of Central Manchester NHS Foundation Trust

Among the finalists in the Emerging Leader category was Dr Emmanuel Nsetubu, our AQ Clinical Lead for Sepsis, and Consultant Infectious Diseases Physician at The Royal Liverpool & Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust.

AQuA Fellow and Integrated Care Programme Director for Oldham CCG, Kath Wynne-Jones, was also among the finalists in the Leading Systems Transformation category.

For more information about the awards, please visit the North West Leadership Academy website, or you can follow the coverage from the night on Twitter at #NWawards16.