Distributed leadership in action; the chief registrar

The chief registrar is an exciting new role for trainee physicians, inspired by recommendations in the ground breaking Future Hospital Commission report.1 Patient safety, clinical outcomes and the quality of the patient experience will be at the forefront of the registrars’ work, enabling them to make real change on the ‘shop floor’. The role focuses on the ‘vertical’ development of clinical leadership skills. In a previous issue of Future Hospital Journal , Peter Lees, chief executive and medical director of the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management, called for a ‘relentless, systematic drive to identify, support and develop good medical leaders’.2 He further described a tripartite set of responsibilities for every individual clinician: