Courageous Conversations

Effective communication skills within medicine - or in life generally - are crucial for any successful interaction with people. This programme explores the possibilities of advanced communication within a healthcare setting whilst focusing an areas such as assertiveness, conflict and different personality styles.

Teaching is about supporting others to develop their knowledge and competence. A good teacher will use a range of techniques to ensure that what and how they teach, recognises the needs of others and meets defined learning and teaching goals. Best practice teaching techniques include planning for a teaching session, finding out prior knowledge and skills and using relevant case studies and scenarios that resonate with the learner. An important part of teaching is also supporting the learner as they practice and apply their knowledge and skills in the workplace.

The overall responsibility of a Healthcare Professional is the care and safety of their patients. At times this may be working as part of a team and at others working Autonomously. The BMA states “In medical practice Autonomy is the right of competent adults to make informed decisions about their own medical care. It is a cornerstone of medical ethics in the UK. Doctors must ask a patient's consent before any investigation/ treatment takes place. Patients are involved with the discussions and decisions concerning their care” This programme will explore what Autonomy is and the Clinical responsibility surrounding it.

Throughout their careers, most Doctors within the NHS will be involved in Teaching and Training in some capacity, whether through Clinical or Educational Supervision, coaching and mentoring, work placed based assessment or simply general support in the hospital environment. The GMC encourage and state that Doctors ‘’should be prepared to contribute to teaching and training doctors and students, be willing to take on a mentoring role for more junior doctors and other healthcare professionals and you must support colleagues who have problems with their performance or health. But you must put patient safety first at all times.’’ This programme has been designed around the GMC Good Medical Practice Standards and aims to prepare Doctors with the necessary skills to be confident in various teaching environments.

It doesn't matter what position we are in, at times we'll find that our energy levels, motivation, willingness to take on new challenges or ideas will fluctuate. Discover the true nature of our felt experience and how we can see anew through a different perspective, and then be in a much better position to understand our own motivators and that of others which in turn helps to increase our ability to be more effective and influential.

Having difficult conversations and breaking bad news if often part of a healthcare professionals’ role. This Programme will explore how to adapt your own style to suit a variety of personality types and situations that arise when dealing with sensitive or emotional issues, whilst ensuring the news delivered is in a professional, polite, and effective manner. Delegates will learn how to assert themselves in the most difficult situations and to adapt accordingly even when they may feel under pressure in difficult and uncomfortable situations. The programme will also address how to deal with conflict and resist manipulation.

Everyone should be treated with dignity and respect at work. Bullying and harassment of any kind are in no-one's interest and should not be tolerated in the workplace but if you are being bullied or harassed it can be difficult to know what to do about it. This workshop identifies examples of both harassment and bullying and provides strategies of dealing with both. If you are a sufferer, have suffered or need to understand your limits when running your life or your team, then this course will help and support you.

Effective performance is essential to the success of any organisation, and the NHS is no exception. Coaching and mentoring are desirable and valued attributes that can enable the development of competent and high performing individuals and teams. This programme aims to explore the range of skills that are required to develop successful coaches and mentors and to provide an opportunity to practice these in a supportive environment.

In order to communicate successfully, one person has to send a message and another to receive it. We are constantly involved in both of these activities-we speak and listen and also send signals through our body language. Sometimes this two-way process fails. If you need a workshop to sharpen all your skills after identifying your potential barriers, then this is an opportunity for you to learn new techniques and skills and build your inner confidence and outward effectiveness to achieve problem free communication.

In today's NHS, the patient has become far more discerning and expectations have become higher. One of the major areas for complaints into the Organisation has been that of communication, with many of the letters hinting that cultural differences are an issue. The aim of this programme is to explore how culture affects our perceptions, our behaviours and our communications. It will also allow delegates time to explore how they increase patient satisfaction and continue to deliver against expectations of that of the patient and the NHS as a whole.

This workshop is for existing Senior Grades and Doctors applying for Consultant positions, of all specialties. It will help towards providing you with the tools and resources to prepare more effectively for your forthcoming interview/s. This course is highly practical and offers you the chance to be interviewed by a panel of your colleagues, which represents what you will face at interview.

Management is an essential part of any healthcare professional’s role. As clinicians this role is not always one which is easily undertaken without help and support. That is why it is essential to have a grasp of the theories and components behind successful management and how this can be applied back into the workplace. This programme is designed to enable those clinicians who want to ensure they have a practical working knowledge of management skills and theories as well as take home techniques for immediate implementation.

The NHS is a culturally diverse workforce, bringing skills and expertise from across the globe to keep our nation healthy. Differences in backgrounds and upbringings can result in varying ways of perceiving the world, as well as differing behaviours and communicating styles. These differences can - on occasion - cause confusion, hurt, and even conflict within the work environment. The aim of this programme is to explore culture's influence on perceptions, behaviours and communication styles. Developed for Educators, this workshop will enable delegates to improve their cross-cultural understanding and communication, to improve workplace harmony and effectiveness.

This programme will explore some different facets of the interpersonal relationship to consider, within your supportive role. We aim to provide some psychoeducation to help with navigating ways to support fellow medical professionals and team members appropriately, professionally, and compassionately. Delivered by a counsellor and psychotherapist, this programme seeks to expand knowledge and awareness of a variety of presenting issues surrounding mental health and well-being

‘Burnout’ was recognised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as an ‘occupational phenomenon’. Burnout is a state of physical and emotional exhaustion. Common signs include feeling tired or drained most of the time. Feeling helpless, trapped and/or defeated. Early recognition and remediation are key in dealing with a doctor’s burnout. There may be organizational factors within the NHS which are hard to address and can impact personal resilience. There are, however, some personal protective steps you can take which are within your control. Mindfulness, Meditation & Wellbeing are helpful in providing those protective steps.

Educational Leadership is often hard to define yet apparent when missing. Leadership is an essential component within any team and there has never been a greater need for strong Leadership skills within the ever-changing NHS to support the delivery of continuous improvements. This interactive programme has been designed to encourage delegates to explore their current leadership styles and to identify and build on their current skill set. This programme will highlight the essential skills needed to be an effective Educational leader and explore the skills required to succeed.

Emotional intelligence (EI) or emotional quotient (EQ) is the capability of individuals to recognise their own and other people's emotions, to discriminate between different feelings and label them appropriately, to use emotional information to guide thinking and behaviour, and to manage and/or adjust emotions to adapt environments or achieve one's goal/s. Knowledge of these skills within medicine is crucial for any successful interaction with other people. This programme explores the possibilities of using advanced communication within a healthcare setting, giving individuals insight and confidence in their interaction with others and adding another communicative string to your bow.

Employment laws under the Equality Act 2010 gave the NHS opportunities to work towards eliminating discrimination and reducing inequalities in care. Since October 1st, 2012, it is unlawful for the NHS, social care service providers and professionals to discriminate, victimise, or harass a person because of their age. The NHS already has clear values and principles about equality and fairness, set out in the NHS Constitution, and the laws under the Equality Act 2010 reinforce many of these. This 1 day programme is designed to cover all essential aspects and key issues relating to equality, diversity and culture while working within the NHS.

An essential component of any individual’s success, whether professional or personal, is achieving a healthy balance between our work and our personal life. This programme will assist delegates to take responsibility and to have the skills to plot a route to achieving a work / life balance that works for them. Delegates will then turn their attention to their patients, we will explore models and skills to empower patients so they become active participants in their own care to reach self-identified health and wellbeing goals.

Giving and receiving feedback is often a large part of a healthcare professionals’ role, and these are 2 of the most important skills you can learn. During this programme, the delegate will understand how giving effective feedback can not only improve performance, but also enhance learning and build successful relationships. This programme aims to offer the necessary skills of not only giving but also receiving feedback to reinforce positive behaviours and change.

Implementing the Care Act’s Wellbeing Principle is part of practitioners’ duty. They need to teach clients some skills that will increase their independence and wellbeing, while delaying or reducing their health and social care needs. This concept will be individualised in various health and social care contexts. In this course, delegates learn how to teach practical and essential life skills to their clients, to help them improve or maintain emotional and physical health.

Every Manager knows that Inspiration and motivation are extremely important factors when trying to achieve a collective goal, but how do you actually motivate and inspire others? This course will explore what motivation and inspiration is and also delve into the many different ways people feel motivated. How do you get the best out of the team? Everyone is different therefore different approaches are explored. This course will also focus on creating the right environment is which people feel empowered, motivated and inspired therefore increasing job satisfaction.

Human factors is the science of understanding human behaviour and is applied and related through this workshop in the healthcare market-place. The workshop sets out to firstly define what Human Factors are, then set out the strategies for a manager, individual or department to ensure they are doing everything possible to eliminate ( as far as possible ) risk to patients and then study the personal and individual skills required to take personal responsibility for the success of patient safety.

Job Planning has been used within the NHS since the late 1990's and aims to ensure that the organisation has the correct staffing levels in the right places, to ensure that patients are safe and the business can be resourced in the right way. The Job Plan forms part of the Doctors contract and informs pay progression. This workshop will highlight the main areas of the Plan and give confidence to attendees to negotiate their own Job Plan to achieve maximum productivity and satisfaction.

Leadership is an essential part of any healthcare professional's role, whether Clinical or non-Clinical. The NHS Leadership Academy explain their Healthcare Leadership Model was designed to help all professionals become better leaders in their day-to-day roles. This course is aimed at delegates who want to understand more about their individual leadership style and develop their current skills and confidence.

Leadership is an essential part of any healthcare professional's role, whether Clinical or non-Clinical. The NHS Leadership Academy explain their Healthcare Leadership Model was designed to help all professionals become better leaders in their day-to-day roles. This course is aimed at delegates who want to understand more about their individual leadership style and develop their current skills and confidence.

The NHS is changing and expects its’ senior doctors to take active, professional participation in their leadership role. As clinicians, this role is not always one which is easily undertaken without help and support. That is why it is essential to have a grasp of the theories behind successful leadership and management. This programme is designed to enable those doctors who want to ensure they have a practical, working knowledge of leadership theories take tips and techniques back into the work-place for immediate implementation.

The NHS is changing and there has never been greater emphasis on each individual team member taking responsibility for their share of the team achievement. The NHS is also encouraging employees at all levels to develop their leadership skills with ever increasing determination. This programme is designed to help and support delegates to achieve the organisational needs and develop skills and techniques which they can take back into the work-place and use in a practical fashion.

The NHS’s greatest strength and expertise lies in practical service improvement. They have years of experience in clinical patient pathway re-design which supports improved patient experience and outcomes. This programme is designed to give you a taste of what is expected of you to enable you to deliver your targets. This leadership programme is designed to help staff understand the management and leadership aspects of this role with the clear focus on improving service and building on skills they have already acquired. A management project of relevance and meaning to the organisation is undertaken to build on skills acquired and to add value.

Today, NHS Trusts have to operate robust internal business case processes and maintain a transparent audit trail in order to demonstrate value for money in all decisions relating to the use of resources. Nowadays, use of funds and budgets will only be permitted upon completion of the business case pro forma. No capital will be available until a business case has been approved (usually) by the Trust Executive Group. This course will cover what is needed to make a business case.

As the NHS strives for greater consistency in the ways that it improves services to their patients, it has an underlying obligation to patients to understand their expectations and deliver against them. One of their key strategies is to reduce the number of verbal and written complaints. This workshop studies those written complaints, which the NHS must deal with in a timely and fair way for the public. It will also focus on what the NHS constitution says are the rights of the individual, the doctor and how the NHS will support you, the doctor. This programme has been designed to ensure Doctors are aware of their own responsibilities when a complaint occurs but also of the support they can expect to receive.

Managing Conflict. Conflict can happen in any workplace, the healthcare environment is no exception and it is essential that managers and supervisors are confident when dealing with tough situations. This course has been designed for anyone who wants to understand what causes conflict and the impact it can have on the individual and organisation. This course will explore the different ways people respond to conflict and also how to approach and resolve issues before they escalate.