Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust hosted the first annual Northwest Enhance Forum - and one of the first in England - bringing together foundation doctors, educators and system leaders to celebrate innovation, leadership and quality improvement in medical training.
The forum, in Education Centre 1 at the Royal Preston Hospital, showcased the growing impact of the Enhance Explore Programme, which provides protected time to develop skills in: patient centred practice, complex multimorbidity, population health, social justice & health equity, system working and environmental sustainability, quality improvement and leadership alongside their clinical roles.
Opening the event, Professor Ailsa Brotherton, Chief Strategy and Improvement Officer at LTH, reflected on how patient complexity in acute care has increased significantly over time, reinforcing the need for a workforce equipped not only with clinical expertise, but also with the skills to lead change, improve systems and deliver care differently in the future.
She also highlighted how the Enhance Programme supports the NHS Long Term Plan ambition to ‘shift left’ - identifying patients earlier, moving care closer to home, and addressing health inequalities that remain particularly stark across the Northwest. By focusing on generalism alongside specialist training, the programme prepares doctors to manage increasingly complex patient needs across organisational boundaries.
Dr Rebecca Wagstaff, Northwest Enhance Programme Lead, also spoke about the importance of generalist skills in modern medicine. She reflected on how patients now often live with multiple long-term conditions and social challenges, requiring coordinated, whole-person care rather than isolated specialist input. The Enhance Programme, she said, provides a vital opportunity for foundation doctors to develop this broader perspective early in their careers.
The conference also marked a significant milestone for the region. Lancashire Teaching Hospitals received strong recognition for its delivery of the programme, with positive feedback from foundation doctors and educators alike. It is one of the first Trusts in England to host a dedicated Enhance conference, underlining the North West’s leadership in embedding population health and quality improvement into early medical training.
This success was driven by strong collaborative working between Stuart Clough, Senior Associate Director of Continuous Improvement, and Lauren O’Brien, Deputy Director of Education. The vision was brought to life by Enhance Explore trainees Dr Molly Harmer-Leicester, Dr Lucy Worthington, and Dr Jack Scowcroft - supported by the organisational team of Nicola Brooks and Kirsty Stephenson, whose commitment and coordination ensured the Northwest Enhance Forum became a reality.
Following the welcome, foundation doctors were split into four groups to rotate through four breakout rooms, featuring a showcase from Kelly Cassidy, Xinlin Chen and Liam Kind from the Trust's Blended Learning team, Leading Improvement into Action with Ben Morris and Ian Mills, Improvement: The Hidden Skill in Medicine with Stuart Clough and Jennifer Carroll, and Improvement and Leadership in Clinical Practice with Dr Craig Marshall and Dr Hannah Baird (of Bolton NHS Foundation Trust).
Throughout the day, projects were presented to peers and senior colleagues, demonstrating how protected learning time can translate into meaningful improvements in patient care, service efficiency and staff experience. Networking and collaboration were strongly encouraged, reflecting the programme’s emphasis on shared learning and collective leadership.
With every Trust in the Northwest now offering at least one Enhance Explore training track, and a growing regional team supporting delivery, the programme is set to continue expanding. The conference highlighted both how far the Enhance programme has come and its potential to shape a future medical workforce capable of leading improvement across the NHS.
Chief Medical Officer, Mr Steve Canty, delivered the closing remarks, encouraging delegates to carry the momentum forward by continuing to champion improvement, nurture leadership, and keep patients at the heart of everything we do. He challenged attendees to inspire others, share ideas, lead by example, and ignite a passion for improvement within their teams. Mr Canty also congratulated the award winners:
- Best Oral Presentation: Dr Raees Zaeem for Immunology Bloods QI Project
- Best Poster Presentation (tie):
Dr Sana Patel for Enhancing Preterm Birth Prediction in Twin Pregnancies: A Quality Improvement Project Using Additional Cervical Length Screening
Dr Michael Aarons, Dr Sarah Benjamin, Dr James Linton & Dr Patrick McDonald for End-of-life Imaging in Hospitalised Patients: Age, Frailty and Resource Implications.
As the day concluded, the forum left a clear message: by working together, sharing ideas, and embracing innovation, we can shape a future-ready medical workforce that leads improvement across the NHS.
