About the Leadership for Clinicians programme

All LeAD elearning sessions have been updated to reflect changes in the NHS and issues facing clinicians working in today’s service.

Leadership for Clinicians: LeAD is an elearning resource to support clinicians, of all professions, to develop an understanding of their role in contributing to the management and leadership of health care services.
LeAD elearning is designed to be used as part of a blended approach, providing the knowledge base to augment clinical practice, and leadership development opportunities and programmes.
LeAD provides over 60 short interactive elearning sessions. LeAD sessions are grouped for ease of reference; however they are designed to stand alone to meet an individual’s development needs and interests, you can obtain a certificate of completion after each session. To support trainers and further development within the clinical context, additional material and further reading on the subject is included within the sessions.
LeAD sessions are available in two pathways, both have exactly the same sessions, however they are grouped differently. You can select either of the pathways.
The NHS Leadership Academy has recognised the original work achieved by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and NHSIII in describing the leadership expectations for those working in clinical settings. Chief Professional Officers of NHS England endorsed the Medical / Clinical Leadership Competency Framework (MLCF/CLCF) and LeAD to address the knowledge required of clinicians.

More information

Who is it for?

LeAD is appropriate for all clinical staff regardless of profession, specialty, or stage of training (although it is most appropriate for those with a reasonable level of experience in the clinical field) and offers one component of an overall leadership training and development programme. It is intended to support face to face and work based learning by providing the knowledge base related to leadership in clinical settings. This website and the sessions also contain additional support material for trainers to augment leadership development in day to day practice e.g. videos and e-articles.

LeAD reflects the leadership competences outlined in the MLCF/CLCF and will help clinicians develop the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours required to be active team members; support others who are in leadership roles; and make effective contributions as appropriate.

The subject matter and illustrative contexts support developing leadership in clinical settings as well as the knowledge base of the MLC. All of the elearning has been written and extensively reviewed by senior practitioners.

How to access

In order to access the Leadership for Clinicians programme, you will need an elfh account. If you do not have one, then you can register by selecting the Register button below.

Register >

To view the Leadership for Clinicians programme, select the View button below. If you already have an account with elfh, you will also be able to login and enrol on the programme from the View button.

View >

NHS healthcare staff in England

The Leadership for Clinicians programme is also available to NHS healthcare staff via the Electronic Staff Record (ESR). Accessing this elearning via ESR means that your completions will transfer with you throughout your NHS career.

Further details are available here.

Not an NHS organisation?

If you are not an NHS health or care organisation and therefore do not qualify for free access elfh Hub, you may be able to access the service by creating an OpenAthens account.

To check whether or not you qualify for free access via OpenAthens, you can view the eligibility criteria and register on the ‘OpenAthens’ portal.

Registering large numbers of users

If you are a HR, IT or Practice Manager and would like to register and enrol large numbers of staff within your organisation for access onto the Leadership for Clinicians programme, please contact elfh directly.

Organisations wishing to use their own LMS

For HR departments wanting to know more about gaining access to courses using an existing Learning Management System please contact elfh directly to express interest.

How to license

In the event that you do not qualify for free access to the Leadership for Clinicians programme, you are able to license access through eIntegrity, a community-interest company established for this purpose.
You can check whether or not you qualify for free access by clicking on the ‘Register’ button above.

For more information on the licensing options available for the Leadership for Clinicians programme, please visit the eIntegrity website.

More information

Please select the following link for more information on how to use the elfh Hub.

A patient's journey

Professor Kieran Sweeney was diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma at the age of 57 and died at home with his family on Christmas Eve 2009.

Kieran kindly agreed to be filmed and interviewed by Tom Lewis on his experience of care and interactions with healthcare professionals to illustrate the educational material provided by LeAD.

The footage available here is an extract of the filming and reflects the thoughts and experiences Kieran shared in an article he wrote for the BMJ. He died six weeks after this film was recorded.

Sweeney K, Toy L, Cornwell J. A patient’s journey: Mesothelioma. BMJ 2009; 339:b2862 doi 10.1136/BMJ.b2862

Obituaries: Kieran Sweeney, Published 8 February 2010, doi:10.1136/bmj.c733 BMJ 2010;340:c733

elearning for healthcare is very grateful to Kieran and his family for their immense generosity and commitment to the development of clinical leadership.

Further extracts from Kieran’s interview together with contributions from other people with first hand patient experience are being brought together in a number of online articles on compassion, teamwork and change. These articles can be used as an educational resource to help explore clinical leadership and service enhancement and deliver improved quality of care for patients.