Expanding the strategic and clinical leadership role of accredited specialists
Expanding the strategic and clinical leadership role of accredited specialists
Background: we sought to explore the value and benefits of accredited specialists employed in the National Health Service (NHS), and proposed strategies for expanding their role.
Aims: to explore the core characteristics of accredited specialists and to examine how their skills could be further utilized to enhance occupational health (OH) services.
Methods: mixed methods comprising a survey and qualitative work.
Results: OH survey was completed by 65 of 128 (51%) respondents. Nine accredited specialists and 16 stakeholders contributed qualitative data. Most OH departments were located in acute NHS trusts and additionally provided externally contracted services. We found a large variation in OH staffing and OH services delivered. The COVID pandemic created unprecedented challenges and required expansion in services to meet demand. The majority of respondents described greater recognition and appreciation by others of accredited specialists and OH teams for their specialist contribution during the pandemic. From the qualitative data, we identified two overarching themes. 'Professional credibility has currency' (Theme 1) and 'A visionary future' (Theme 2). A series of sub-themes are described.
Conclusions: accredited specialists employed in the NHS possess a core set of attributes and capabilities, and are skilful at delivering strong, influential and impactful clinical and strategic leadership across the NHS hierarchy and landscape. The COVID pandemic provided valuable opportunities for them to showcase their specialist clinical and leadership skills. The current wider reorientation of NHS clinical services offers bold new ways to expand their role beyond traditional clinical boundaries.
accredited specialist, health services research, occupational health, occupational medicine
456-461
Parsons, V.
5599eaba-c97b-4c50-97b3-d32969d44124
Pattani, S.
942e0ff8-a2f2-47f0-98ee-d885b37cf06d
Gilbey, A.
74fae8ef-5eec-440a-9a64-6bc5988bcf49
Madan, I.
72a70fe3-7ef8-470b-81ea-0961b305c5c8
Harling, C.
5aa04b75-8f5d-4754-a999-e11c84831f64
Muiry, R.
ed06e39c-aca5-47c6-983e-2104c0eafefd
de Bono, A.
474270be-af3f-46a4-a383-b324c8e9ebb1
18 October 2022
Parsons, V.
5599eaba-c97b-4c50-97b3-d32969d44124
Pattani, S.
942e0ff8-a2f2-47f0-98ee-d885b37cf06d
Gilbey, A.
74fae8ef-5eec-440a-9a64-6bc5988bcf49
Madan, I.
72a70fe3-7ef8-470b-81ea-0961b305c5c8
Harling, C.
5aa04b75-8f5d-4754-a999-e11c84831f64
Muiry, R.
ed06e39c-aca5-47c6-983e-2104c0eafefd
de Bono, A.
474270be-af3f-46a4-a383-b324c8e9ebb1
Parsons, V., Pattani, S., Gilbey, A., Madan, I., Harling, C., Muiry, R. and de Bono, A.
(2022)
Expanding the strategic and clinical leadership role of accredited specialists.
Occupational medicine (Oxford, England), 72 (7), .
(doi:10.1093/occmed/kqac064).
Abstract
Background: we sought to explore the value and benefits of accredited specialists employed in the National Health Service (NHS), and proposed strategies for expanding their role.
Aims: to explore the core characteristics of accredited specialists and to examine how their skills could be further utilized to enhance occupational health (OH) services.
Methods: mixed methods comprising a survey and qualitative work.
Results: OH survey was completed by 65 of 128 (51%) respondents. Nine accredited specialists and 16 stakeholders contributed qualitative data. Most OH departments were located in acute NHS trusts and additionally provided externally contracted services. We found a large variation in OH staffing and OH services delivered. The COVID pandemic created unprecedented challenges and required expansion in services to meet demand. The majority of respondents described greater recognition and appreciation by others of accredited specialists and OH teams for their specialist contribution during the pandemic. From the qualitative data, we identified two overarching themes. 'Professional credibility has currency' (Theme 1) and 'A visionary future' (Theme 2). A series of sub-themes are described.
Conclusions: accredited specialists employed in the NHS possess a core set of attributes and capabilities, and are skilful at delivering strong, influential and impactful clinical and strategic leadership across the NHS hierarchy and landscape. The COVID pandemic provided valuable opportunities for them to showcase their specialist clinical and leadership skills. The current wider reorientation of NHS clinical services offers bold new ways to expand their role beyond traditional clinical boundaries.
Text
21-OP-222-Article (revised) (clean)
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
e-pub ahead of print date: 11 July 2022
Published date: 18 October 2022
Additional Information:
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.
Keywords:
accredited specialist, health services research, occupational health, occupational medicine
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 470720
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/470720
ISSN: 0962-7480
PURE UUID: 1edd4ad3-0b45-48f4-9587-6d9a7624cc86
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Date deposited: 18 Oct 2022 17:10
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 07:30
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Contributors
Author:
V. Parsons
Author:
S. Pattani
Author:
A. Gilbey
Author:
I. Madan
Author:
R. Muiry
Author:
A. de Bono
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