Background In 2017 a Palliative Care Leadership programme was launched to help support local Clinical Nurse Specialists and teams adopt a more proactive approach to service delivery and to embed the values, behaviours and attitudes of leadership (NHSScotland. Delivering quality through leadership: NHSScotland leadership development strategy. 2009). Now in its sixth year we have participants attending from a broad range of palliative care roles from across Scotland and one from England.

Aim To deliver and evaluate a leadership programme that supports staff in their current role and prepares them with leadership skills and confidence for future roles.

Methods There are seven programme aims to evaluate against. These include ‘creating the condition where people can play to their strengths, think creatively and work collaboratively to overcome obstacles to the change process‘. Delivery methods include masterclasses, action learning sets, 360 review and undertaking a quality improvement project. Rigorous evaluation methods have been used throughout the programme including an end of programme evaluation and a 6-month post survey.

Results Participants from the first 4 cohorts were asked to what extent the seven programme aims had been met. Most either ‘strongly agreed’ (52%) or ‘agreed’ (39%), with 8.4% ‘slightly agreeing’.

A new 6-month post survey evaluated the 2022/2023 programme. The results were as follows:

• 100% of respondents noted an increase in confidence in relation to own leadership abilities.

• 66%, that the programme influenced how they care for self and prioritise own wellbeing.

• 100% commented ‘yes’ to the programme positively influencing practice.

Conclusion The Inspiring leadership Programme provides responsive and effective education and develops leadership capacity in Palliative Care. A community of practice has recently been established for alumni following demand. Eighty-two participants have completed the programme; a further 17 in current cohort.