The President of RCSI, Professor John Hyland opened Ireland’s first Professional Diploma in Clinical Leadership at the RCSI Institute of Leadership on Thursday, 12 January.

The programme, directed by Mr Dermot O’Flynn and Dr Mary Collins, is unique in that it is an interdisciplinary specialist accredited postgraduate programme designed for newly appointed or 'soon to be appointed' senior clinicians, clinical managers, supervisors, clinical nurse managers and allied health professionals in the private, public or non-profit sector who wish to quickly develop their clinical leadership skills.

The development of systems thinking and transformational leadership will be a major focus of the new programme, which will also incorporate advances in positive psychology and organisational scholarship. As such, it will be the first clinical leadership programme in Ireland to incorporate these developments. 

Mr O’Flynn, Director of Professional Development at the Institute of Leadership said: “Participants will undertake a unique programme of study which will be evidence-based, cutting-edge and designed to meet the immediate development needs of both themselves and their organisations.”

Co-Director of the programme, Dr Mary Collins, pointed to the strong emphasis on personal and professional development and the significant contribution of psychometric measurement to the participants’ development.