The HSE Office of the Nursing and Midwifery Services Director, National Leadership and Innovation Centre and the RCSI Institute of Leadership will today launch a national Leadership Development Programme for Directors and Assistant Directors of Nursing and Midwifery.

75 Directors and Assistant Directors of Nursing and Midwifery will participate on a programme which has been specifically designed to meet their needs and build leadership capability within the healthcare system. It is a unique project in that it compromises a phased approach including an Assessment and Development Centre and has been co-designed with the Directors themselves. In addition to personal and professional leadership development, Directors will work together on strategic organisational development projects that align with the proposed reconfiguration of the hospital groups and health system. The programme starts in October and concludes April 2014.

Speaking at the launch, Dr Michael Shannon, Director of Office of the Nursing and Midwifery Services said,"It is my great pleasure to be here today to launch the future leaders programmes for Directors of Nursing and Midwifery (and also the Assistant Directors/Divisional/ Directorate Nurse and Midwife Managers). The provision of these programmes is critical to promote and drive the reform agenda in this very complex and challenging healthcare environment. As Directors and leaders of the professions of Nursing and Midwifery, you are pivotal in determining the roles, responsibilities and governance for the professions facing a changing future. The aim of these leadership programmes is to enhance your leadership capacity and to equip you with the skills to respond to the challenges of increasingly rapid change, development and budgetary constraints experienced by all in healthcare today. I am delighted to work in partnership with the RCSI Institute of Leadership who have an outstanding reputation for the provision of leadership education throughout the health service."

Professor Ciarán O'Boyle, Director of the RCSI Institute of Leadership, said: "This development programme supports Directors of Nursing and Midwifery on their leadership journey, and enables them to respond to the challenges of increasingly rapid change and budgetary constraints being experienced by all in the healthcare sector."

The RCSI has been developing leaders in medicine and healthcare since its foundation in 1784. In 2005, the Institute of Leadership was established. It is Ireland's only third level institution dedicated exclusively to developing the leadership, management, and educational capacity of health professionals. While the Institution is fully academic institution, it maintains close connections with the worlds of healthcare delivery and higher education and its programmes are characterised by flexibility, speed of response, customer service and a blended learning approach that allows students to learn while continuing to work.