Developing skills in clinical leadership for ward sisters

Fenton, Katherine OBE
Phillips, Natasha

Katherine Fenton OBE is chief nurse and professor of nursing leadership at London City and London Southbank Universities and University College London Hospitals Foundation Trust; Natasha Phillips is assistant chief nurse, University College London Hospitals Foundation Trust, and PhD student, University of Hertfordshire, examining the ward sister role in the context of the acute NHS trust.

For articles on the Francis report, go to nursingtimes.net/francis

Nursing Times 109(9):p 12-15, March 5, 2013.

Abstract

Fenton K, Phillips N (2013) Developing skills in clinical leadership for ward sisters. Nursing Times; 109; 9, 12–15. The Francis report has called for a strengthening of the ward sister's role. It recommends that sisters should operate in a supervisory capacity and should not be office bound. Effective ward leadership has been recognised as being vital to high-quality patient care and experience, resource management and interprofessional working.

However, there is evidence that ward sisters are ill equipped to lead effectively and lack confidence in their ability to do so. University College London Hospitals Foundation Trust has recognised that the job has become almost impossible in increasingly large and complex organisations. Ward sisters spend less than 40% of their time on clinical leadership and the trust is undertaking a number of initiatives to support them in this role.

Ward sisters need time to work in a supervisory capacity and provide clinical leadership; organisations need to ensure this can happen