COVER FEATURE Florence Wilcock FRCOG


Florence has been a Consultant Obstetrician and the Labour Ward Lead at Kingston Hospital since 2007. Florence has a weekly antenatal clinic and labour ward sessions and is happiest hands-on looking after and delivering women and their babies. In addition, Florence has a keen interest in clinical leadership and led the maternity service as Specialty Lead for Obstetrics from 2009 to 2013. Since 2013, Florence has expanded her leadership and management role within the Trust and is now Divisional Director for the Specialist Services Division. Florence is a member of the London Maternity Strategic Clinical Leadership Group and co-chair of the South West London Maternity Network.


NHS and helps them to manage people and change. It also covers writing a business case and working as part of a bigger group. Project work is now also included so that growing leaders can implement improvements early on – an obvious advantage for the Trust. “I was in the first cohort with about 30 others when we began in 1998. The course is not complicated and has always been multidisciplinary,” states David. “As a very spread-out Trust, the course grows peer- group support; it brings people together from all disciplines and areas. We’re very collective in our view.” The training doesn’t work for everyone, but that’s no bad thing, says David: “There are people who’ve done the course and, although they’ve found it interesting, decided that a leadership position is not for them. That’s fantastic because we don’t want to be forcing square pegs into round holes. “The training of people to lead and manage only works if you’ve got a system that allows them to do that, and supports them in the decisions they make. People see the value in this because we’ve put in place a very clear structure. It’s not only doctors who lead services; we’ve had psychologists, therapists and midwives running our services and doing it very well.”


Courses, projects and groups • Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust training (https://www. northumbria.nhs.uk/about-us/working- us/training)


• Whose Shoes? ® (http://nutshellcomms. co.uk/)


• The Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management (https://www.fmlm.ac.uk/)


• The King’s Fund Leadership Development Programme (http:// www.kingsfund.org.uk/leadership/all- leadership-programmes)


• The London Strategic Clinical Networks O&G November 2015 All new consultants undertake a shorter


version of the course and become part of a mentorship programme. This, says David, is a very effective way of helping new recruits become an integral part of the team. “This is the long game. What we’re saying to new consultants is ‘you’re likely to be with us for at least 20 years, so have you thought what that means?’ Really importantly, we’re introducing them to their new colleagues, helping them get to know them.” It’s not only the staff at the Trust who benefit from the programme. Northumbria was recently named as one of only three organisations selected by NHS CEO Simon Stevens to develop new ways of working known as ‘multi-hospital chains’. This means the Trust will be spearheading the sharing of clinical expertise, best practice and new ideas across the NHS. Of course, it’s patients who will feel the benefit of this collective knowledge and expertise. “The experience of our patients would not be anything like it is now if we had not adopted this route,” concludes David. “Because the one thing we know is, clinicians are very good at putting the patient at the centre of change.” If you’d like to find out more about these inspiring projects and programmes, contact jcross@rcog.org.uk.


(Maternity) http://bit.ly/1LO2kmq


• The Maternity Experience (http://matexp.org.uk)


College support and guidance • Undermining toolkit – a resource to address the challenge of undermining, bullying and harassment in maternity and gynaecology services


• eLearning resources including videos on improving communications skills and workplace behaviours as well as a course on the role of human factors in health care • The RCOG’s Becoming Tomorrow’s


David Evans FRCOG David qualified from Newcastle University in 1978 and trained in obstetrics and gynaecology in the Northern Region, The


Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and the Simpson Memorial Maternity Pavilion. He has been a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at Northumbria NHS Foundation Trust for 26 years and involved in medical management for more than 20 years, having served for eight years as Clinical Director and 12 as Medical Director. David’s work has included developing major service change and reconfigurations, clinical leadership, consultant recruitment methods, clinical governance, clinical standards and patient safety. He has been an NCAS assessor for 12 years and a member of the assessor training team for seven years. He is also a member of and trainer for the RCOG Invited Reviews Group and was Revalidation lead for its UK Board.


Specialist report makes recommendations for lifelong learning for specialists in women’s health


• The RCOG Faculty Development Framework recognises experience as a trainer in O&G and provides information and guidance on how to progress on this path


• RCOG Invited Reviews – a service provided by the RCOG to review O&G services or individual clinical practice where concerns have been raised.


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