The importance of clinical supervision
Clinical supervision is crucial in demonstrating the commitment of an organisation and its staff to reflect on clinical practice using a structured approach. It aims to support and increase the confidence and competence of staff and improve the quality of care provided to the patient population. It encourages self-assessment, analytical, and reflective skills and is an essential component of continuing professional development (CPD).
Good clinical supervision is acknowledged to provide benefits to staff, patients, and the organisations that they work for:
For the individual:
- Increased morale
- Greater confidence
- Stress relief/prevention
- Personal development: opportunity to learn new ways of approaching challenges
- Valuing and learning from success
- Opportunity to share and develop relationships and network
- Developing individual responsibility
- Increased job satisfaction
For the team:
- Greater flexibility of approach/awareness of how others work and view their practice
- Less pressure on senior members of staff/managers to deal with multiple issues/problems
- Improved team working
For the practice:
- Improved patient outcomes
- Improved inter-communications
- Clinical supervision has been associated with higher levels of job satisfaction, improved retention, reduced turnover, and staff effectiveness
- Effective clinical supervision may increase employees’ perceptions of organisational support and improve their commitment to an organisation’s vision and goals
- Personal and professional development results in a high achieving motivated workforce.
- It is one way for a provider to fulfil their duty of care to staff
- Supports and promotes good employment practices as a “learning organisation” and enables the practice to attract talented and skilled professionals
An effective system of clinical supervision also demonstrates to regulators that practitioners are supported to deliver services safely and to good standards (CQC Regulation 18).
Northamptonshire training hub recognises the importance of clinical supervision and wants to promote and support this practice across Northamptonshire.
We have developed a toolkit of clinical supervision resources to support you in setting up clinical supervision in your practice. It includes “how to” guides, a clinical supervision policy, and many other additional resources. To access these resources please click on the “Clinical Supervision Toolkit” button.
If you would like training to become a clinical supervisor, then please use the “Register Interest” button
Additional training resources can be found on e-Learning for Healthcare: ‘Supervision for multi-professional teams’