In an environment where change is dynamic and unpredictable, where leadership skills are even more important, contemporary leadership needs to include the management and use of information and technology. The LIP programme was designed to encourage participants to develop the new skills required in the competitive world of healthcare delivery to improve and deliver services in new ways.

The world around us is changing and this means the context of care delivery is also evolving in response. As always, professional leaders need to be able to respond to this changing political, professional and technical environment.

Each event was held over three sessions, each at least a week apart to allow for reflection. Through workshops, discussion and practical tasks, the programme looked at topics such as how technology can be disruptive to nursing practice, the skills needed for the changing relationships with patients and service users and how the ongoing changes impact leadership. 

The programme also looked at how patients' expectations are changing, how patients use the internet in new ways to look for information and the evolution of patients being able to potentially access their own records. Attendees were encouraged to analyse what meaningful use of data means and how informatics can be developed to meet an organisation's needs.

Buidling networks

The events attracted nurses from a wide variety of backgrounds, including those from the NHS and voluntary sectors, staff in primary care community practice roles and a few allied health professionals. This diversity was seen as a key benefit by many attendees. Joanne Dickson, Lead Nurse for E-Medicines at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said, "Understanding many of the similarities in what we're all doing will be a really helpful thing for me going forward. It means that we can start to work together to resolve issues and prevent some of the duplication of work. It's about releasing time to care."

Talking heads

A number of talking heads were produced in support of the programme around the particluar themes of patient access, information governance and technological advances.

• Professor Sir Bruce Keogh - Transparency of information in the way we deliver care and share information
• Professor Sir Bruce Keogh - The value of data collection
• Dr Brian Fisher, GP in South East London - Sharing electronic patient healthcare records
• Dame Fiona Caldicott - The importance of information governance 

What's next?

Although the programme has now come to an end, it is hoped that the impact will live on. Many have already asked about sharing the materials from the programme locally, says Anne Cooper, National Clinical Lead for Nusring. She adds: "It's in the early days of what we might do. What we seem to have created is a network of people and I'm now trying to facilitate them accessing each other. In the past it would have been difficult for them to connect so we're using NHS networks to help people make new connections."

Anyone can join the NHS Network. Over time this site will be developed to include new materials that everyone can access.