Noemi was a specialist trainee in Plastic Surgery who took a year out of programme as a Leadership Fellow in 2013-14.

Noemi shared some insights from her year with the Improvement Academy:

I believe that all good clinicians are great leaders too. To gain more experience in leadership and management and to widen my knowledge about the NHS, I applied for the Clinical Leadership Fellowship at the Bradford Institute for Health; under the supervision of Prof. John Wright and Prof. Derek Tuffnell. My professional interest remained in Plastic Surgery, but during the Leadership Fellowship I gained essential non-clinical skills including leadership, negotiation skills, managerial experience, networking skills and an essential knowledge about the NHS as an organisation. I completed patient safety and quality improvement projects during my Clinical Leadership Fellowship in 2013/2014.

Since returning to surgical practice in 2014 I have been involved with the theatre scheduling workgroup at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals. This group works towards the reduction of cancellations, improvement of theatre teamwork and theatre flow. I am utilising my service improvement skills, as well as using my leadership and managerial skills on a daily basis as a clinician.