Leadership in primary care

Abstract

Leadership is an important concept for GPs and has its own topic guide in the MRCGP curriculum. Simply put, leadership is about influencing others to take action for change. You may like to start this article by thinking of a few public figures you know, and what makes you think they are ‘good leaders’ – or not. This often highlights the fact that ‘good’ is defined both by how effective leaders are (…‘he really changed the practice’…); and whether they lead people into actions that help or harm (… ‘pay went up, but care got worse…’). As GPs, we need to recognise and develop our own leadership skills and be able to help others to do what is needed for effective patient care. This starts with having some definitions and building up through ‘knowing about’ and ‘knowing how’, towards understanding and applying our skills in practice. Leadership can also need action, beyond our own practice and that of our team, to the wider setting of the community, other parts of the workforce, and in the wider ‘macro’ sphere of changing the systems of care. This article will give you a framework for this learning. The article highlights some of the core capabilities of GPs, why you need them, and how you can develop them, linking this in with MRCGP Workplace-Based Assessment (WPBA) requirements. It also aims to show the links between ‘knowing yourself’ and ‘working in organisations’ - as GP leadership is needed at many levels.