For Directors of Nursing and Senior Clinical Leaders at NHS Trusts currently rated Inadequate or Requires Improvement by CQC.
What is this? A free 5-minute self-assessment scoring five factors of leadership sustainability risk.
Who is it for? Directors of Nursing and Senior Clinical Leaders at NHS Trusts currently rated Inadequate or Requires Improvement by CQC.
When do I use it? Before a Board conversation about an improvement plan, or when your leadership layer feels thinner than it looks on paper.
What problem does it prevent? Completing an improvement plan while the leadership capacity to sustain it quietly runs out — the pattern the NIHR found in Trusts that regressed after exiting special measures.
Trusts which exited CQC special measures successfully shared one factor above all others: they stabilised their senior leadership layer first. Trusts that regressed after exiting had completed their action plans on paper but had not addressed the state of the people running them.
National Institute for Health and Care Research: Rapid Evaluation of NHS Special Measures, 2023Score each factor honestly from 1 (At Risk) to 5 (Sustainable). This is for your use, not for the regulator.
Enter your name and work email to see your score, your result band, and a personalised interpretation based on the re-inspection evidence.
Your details are shared only with Anthony Berry at The Sustainable Leadership Programme. You will not be added to any mailing list without your permission.
Anthony Berry works with Directors of Nursing and Senior Clinical Leaders at NHS Trusts in CQC improvement. A 30-minute call costs nothing and is not a sales pitch. It is a conversation about the evidence and what it means for the people your action plan depends on.
Plans don't make lasting change. People do.