For today's health and social care leaders, the pressures of responding to an increasing volume of political and policy initiatives mean that there is little time to reflect on important, underlying strategic issues, such as managing tensions between ethical leadership, systems change and the demands of the bottomline. This study tour offers new perspectives on these issues with the chance to visit Seattle, a city famous for its innovation and success, in order to learn from pioneering leaders in health care, business and environmental management.

Experiencing Seattle as part of this study tour was both enjoyable and thought-provoking. The range of situations I experienced and the people I met helped me to form some novel and interesting ideas about health care systems in the US, their application in the UK and leadership in general. A not-to-be-missed experience!

Policy Manager

Programme outline

Leaders in today's health and social services operate in a rapidly changing and increasingly challenging environment, linked to economic, social, technological and environmental change. The central challenge for clinicians and managers working in this setting is to balance social, ethical and environmental considerations with demands to deliver results, meet staff and consumer expectations, and achieve financial targets.

The Seattle Study Tour aims to provide a range of experiences and learning designed to help you think about this leadership challenge from different perspectives. This nine-day programme brings together a multidisciplinary group of senior clinicians and managers in Seattle, in the Pacific North West of the United States. Famous for its pioneering entrepreneurs, Seattle is home to Group Health, a leading-edge health maintenance organisation, as well as innovative commercial giants, such as
Boeing and Microsoft.

The training gives you the chance to find out about alternative systems of health care, business and environmental management. You will emerge with new insights, experiences and energy that will help you to maximise your own, and your organisation's, contribution to society, the environment and the economy.

Benefits

The Seattle Study Tour gives you the chance to step back from the day-to-day pressures of your workplace and home, and reflect on the broader strategic and ethical issues involved in delivering health and social care.

These include:

• resolving the conflicts between central and local governance arrangements
• developing the relationship between your organisation and the local and national communities it serves
• managing the tension between public and private-sector provision
• pinpointing to whom your organisation should be accountable, and for what
• maintaining public confidence and behaving ethically when faced with increasing demands for results
• balancing financial considerations and social and clinical outcomes
• keeping abreast of more information and changing technologies
• fostering an atmosphere in which creativity, learning and entrepreneurial endeavour can flourish
• improving the quality of the working lives of your staff, and developing a workplace free of discrimination
• promoting good corporate citizenship and sustainable development
• acting as a positive force for social change.

During the programme, we compare the systems in place in the United States with those in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

This will deepen your understanding of the environment in which you are operating – enabling you to see its strengths and weaknesses more clearly and giving you ideas for improvements. The trip also provides a creative space to think about new ways to develop yourself and your organisation.

To support your development in the future, you will also have the opportunity to establish a learning network with fellow group participants, as well as personal links with the leaders and senior managers in Seattle.

What does the course cover?

The tour begins with six days in Seattle. During this time, we pay visits to a number of different health care organisations, including Group Health – one of the United States' premier health maintenance organisations, renowned for its expertise in commissioning, managed care, patient safety, IT development and consumer governance arrangements. This is followed by a visit to Microsoft. The visit consists of presentations and group discussions led by the host organisations on topics ranging from accountability, choice and payment by results, to innovation, ethics in business practice and strategic development.

You will have the chance to share experiences and insights with people from a range of backgrounds in the business, environmental and health care sectors, with a focus on learning from those who face similar challenges, albeit from a different perspective.

We spend the final three days of the tour at Mount Rainier National Park. In this more relaxed and informal setting, there will be opportunities for personal development and debriefing, during which you will consider your role as a leader and the ways you can take forward the learning from the tour. In addition, there will be a meeting with some of the rangers responsible for the park service. They will offer insights into their personal experience of achieving a synthesis between the potentially harmful, short-term commercialisation of a priceless natural resource, managing the impact of unfettered versus restricted public access, and planning for long-term environmental sustainability and growth.

On completion of the programme, you will have a deeper awareness of the ethical dilemmas surrounding the delivery of health and social care within a market-driven system, and have acquired knowledge and experiences that will help you to resolve some of these tensions.

The Seattle experience

Seattle is a city of approximately 600,000 people and has a similar climate to the UK. You should prepare for mixed weather conditions. Our accommodation is at the Inn at Harbor Steps in the city's downtown district and you have the first weekend free to explore the area. In Mount Rainier National Park, we are staying at the Alta Crystal resort. The park is a wilderness area and you will need suitable boots and outdoor clothing.

Price

Dates