I have seen and experienced the impact of clinical leadership – both good and bad. If you get it right you have wards where patient experience and outcomes are excellent, but staff strive for greater. Clinical leadership that falls short results in low staff morale, higher rates of incidents and a poor patient experience.
When I reflect on clinical leadership in nursing and midwifery, two roles stand out to me as key to the success or failure of patient experience - ward sister/charge nurse and matron.