- Faculty of Occupational Medicine - https://www.fom.ac.uk -

Work collaboratively with colleagues to maintain or improve patient care Part 3

Extracts from ‘Leadership and Management for All Doctors’ (2012)

(All doctors)

All doctors have some responsibilities for using resources; many will also lead teams or be involved in supervising colleagues. Whether you have a management role or not, your primary duty is to patients. Their care, dignity and safety must be your first concern. You also have a duty to the health of the wider community, your profession, your colleagues and the organisation in which you work. Most doctors work in multidisciplinary teams… The formal leader of the team is accountable for the performance of the team, but the responsibility for identifying problems, solving them and taking the appropriate action is shared by the team as a whole. You must be willing to work with other people and teams to maintain and improve performance… You should respect the leadership and management roles of other team members, including non-medical colleagues…You should establish clearly with your employer the scope of your role and the responsibilities it involves, including non-clinical responsibilities. You should raise any issues of ambiguity or uncertainty about responsibilities, including in multidisciplinary or multi-agency teams.