Western Isles community nurse completes leadership postgraduate

A local community nurse, who recently took on the role of the Senior Charge Nurse for the eastside of Lewis, recently graduated with a Frontline Leadership and Management qualification.

Kathleen McCulloch, who manages the community nursing service in the areas of Tolsta, Back, Stornoway and Point, graduated on May 11 in the Albert Halls, Stirling, together with 72 other NHSScotland staff. Kathleen was previously one of the cohort who undertook the Family Health Degree course which was piloted in Western Isles, elsewhere in Scotland and also in Europe as a World Health Organisation initiative. She also spent a year on a secondment to the Stirling University Campus as an ‘clinical academic fellow’.

Kathleen was part of the third cohort to complete the Postgraduate Certificate in Frontline Leadership and Management since the programme was first established four years ago.

The Frontline Leadership and Management programme is a result of collaboration between NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and education providers, De Montfort University and the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI).

Leadership and how it applies to management is developed through a common core curriculum. Problem solving activities are used to bring sector specific and real world issues into focus. Working individually and in groups, students apply their personal and professional experience to the understanding and practice of a more improvement oriented approach to leadership. Option modules provide students with the opportunity to explore the leadership challenge in a specific context and to undertake a project that will deepen their understanding in an area of personal need and interest.

NHS Western Isles Chief Executive Gordon Jamieson said: “I’d like to congratulate Kathleen on her achievement. This was an extremely challenging and demanding course and she has done exceptionally well to have completed this, whilst dealing with the competing demands of her job.

“The programme sets out to support participants to gain the knowledge, skills and confidence to deliver an effective and efficient service that improves the health of the people of Scotland. I’m sure Kathleen will be able to apply a lot of what she has learned in her role as a Senior Charge Nurse.”


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