Today the Royal College of Physicians chief registrar scheme has opened recruitment to trusts across the UK.
Continuing in frontline clinical practice, chief registrars help bridge the gap between junior doctors and senior managers, as well as positively influencing patient outcomes, staff fulfilment and motivation, and organisational performance.
The prestigious scheme, which is part of the Future Hospital Programme, has expanded from its original pilot and now invites trusts across the UK to join this exciting second phase.
The current cohort of 22 chief registrars across 17 NHS trusts are each developing practical solutions to local problems. The initiative places junior doctors at the heart of quality improvement and service redesign, using frontline experience to tackle some of the toughest challenges currently facing the NHS and the junior doctor workforce.
Overseeing projects relating to service redesign, workforce transformation, quality improvement, patient safety, and education and training, chief registrars are supported by a bespoke development and training programme, delivered by the RCP and the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management (FMLM).
The innovative scheme has also received widespread support from key national organisations, and provides an important platform from which change can be effected by those who experience life on the medical front line every day.
Dr Gerrard Phillips, vice president for education at RCP and clinical lead for the chief registrar scheme said:
The chief registrar project is a centrepiece of the RCP’s Future Hospital Programme. It is also one of several ways that the RCP is seeking to empower trainees and other junior doctors, improve flexibility in training and raise morale.
The NHS has much to gain from recognising and harnessing the immense resource that junior doctors represent. The NHS needs to be more clinically led, for the ultimate benefit of our patients and of all the healthcare staff who work so tirelessly for them.
While at the recent Leaders in Healthcare Conference in Liverpool, RCP president Jane Dacre said:
At a time when the NHS is underfunded, underdoctored and overstretched, we need to empower the leaders of tomorrow to be the leaders of today. We need to change the culture to nurture, develop and support all leaders.
Professor Dacre also said of the scheme:
Junior doctors are ideally positioned to introduce change that will make a real impact to real people. The role of chief registrar enables those on the shop floor to do just that. This scheme is an investment for trusts to deliver the best care for our patients, in innovative ways that empower our NHS workforce.
To find out more about how your trust can benefit from having a chief registrar, or to apply, contact futurehospital@rcplondon.ac.uk.
Read president Jane Dacre's latest blog, where she reflects on last week's Leaders in Healthcare conference, and talks about the role chief registrar has to play in medical leadership.
Follow @RCPLondon on Twitter, to find out more about how the RCP supports trainees, medical leadership and the wider NHS.