Professional Skills Courses
NHS England Yorkshire and Humber has developed a range of professional skills courses for posgraduate doctors in training. Professional skills courses are offered to support the development of non-clinical professional competencies which support and enhance good medical practice. Professional skills courses are open to postgraduate doctors in training and SAS doctors. The Training the Trainers course is also open to recognised trainers.
Course booking
All courses are bookable via the Learner Support and Faculty Development Maxcourse site. If you do not have an account, you can create a user account online. Before you can book onto any Professional Skills courses, you will need to update the Personal Details and Profession in your Account Details.
For help, please see:
How to update your personal details - LSFD Maxcourse Help
How to update your profession - LSFD Maxcourse Help
You can find further guidance about using Maxcourse, including instructions on how to search for and book onto courses, on the LSFD Maxcourse Help page.
Cancellations: Please check your availability before booking. If you book onto a course and later find that you are no longer able attend, please cancel your booking via Maxcourse as soon as possible, to release the place. If the course is imminent and you cannot cancel your place via Maxcourse, please contact the LSFD Courses Team to cancel your booking.
For help, please see: How to cancel a course booking - LSFD Maxcourse Help
Available courses
Communication in the Real World
Eligibility: ST3-8 & GP ST1-3 | Duration: 2 days | Delivered by: Career Skills Training Ltd | Format: Virtual via Zoom | Frequency: Three times per year
This participative course covers a wide range of topics to help you improve your communication skills and feel more confident at work. Delegates will have the opportunity to practice and will receive constructive feedback on their communication skills in a friendly and supportive learning environment.
Topics covered include: Understanding how communication difficulties arise and how to handle them when they do; Communication models and strategies; Becoming more assertive at work; Communicating effectively with colleagues, patients and relatives; Breaking bad news; Giving constructive feedback and responding positively to critical feedback; Identifying your preferred team role; Understanding conflict resolution styles and how to respond effectively to conflict at work. The course is highly participative and practical.
Compassionate Leadership and Cultural Competence
Eligibility: | Duration: 1 day | Delivered by: Doctors Training Ltd | Format: Virtual va Zoom | Frequency: Twice per year
This immersive workshop explores Cultural Safety within NHS teams, focusing on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging. Participants will gain crucial insights into addressing workplace challenges and fostering a supportive environment, enhancing both patient care and team cohesion. Participants will acquire practical skills in raising cultural awareness, active bystander training, and empowering team members. They will learn to implement compassionate and inclusive leadership strategies, addressing both overt and subtle issues like discrimination and microaggressions in a culturally sensitive manner.
The Consultant Fellowship Interview
Eligibility: ST3-8 & GP ST1-3 | Duration: Half-day | Delivered by: Dr John P Wilson | Format: Virtual | Frequency: Five times per year
This half-day course is designed for Specialist Registrars who are, or will be, applying for posts as consultants / fellows and who wish to enhance their interview skills at this level. It addresses all the main stages of the interview process from job search and preparing applications to practical strategies within the interview and subsequent engagement with HR.
CVs, Applications & Interviews
Eligibility: ST3-8 & GP ST1-3 | Duration: 1-day | Delivered by: Career Skills Training Ltd | Format: Virtual via Zoom | Frequency: Six times per year
This participative course covers a wide range of topics to help you improve your CV, application form answers and to perform positively and confidently at interview. Delegates will have the opportunity to practice if they wish and will receive constructive feedback in a friendly and supportive learning environment.
Topics covered include building an excellent CV - content, layout and presentation, common application form questions and strategies for answering them effectively, models to help structure answers to common types of interview questions, self-presentation tips, body language and non-verbal communication, handling difficult questions and “interview blocks” – all helping you to build the confidence and skills to deliver positive and effective interview answers!
Enhancing Your Confidence as a Medical Professional
Eligibility: | Duration: 1 day | Delivered by: Tall Spaghetti | Format: Virtual via Zoom | Frequency: Twice per year
Discover what confidence looks, feels, sounds and acts like. This course will give you access to a practical toolkit which can significantly increase your inner comfort and assurance. Elevating your personal confidence will impact your effectiveness and fulfilment in your role. This training is liberating, and empowering, enabling you to feel more confident, comfortable and empowered as you engage with your work as a medical professional, and for your life more broadly.
Focus | Plan | Do It - Improve Productivity - Reduce Stress
Eligibility: ST3-8 & GP ST1-3 | Duration: 1 day | Delivered by: Positive People | Format: Virtual via MS Teams | Frequency: Three times per year
How can we manage an ever-increasing, complex workload, during unprecedented change and still have time for personal life?
Positive People created this hands-on programme to support busy staff at all levels, providing an approach which puts you in control, improves productivity and reduces stress. This programme will provide both a methodology to stay on top of work and also hands-on, live help to optimise a range of corporate productivity tools (eg. Microsoft Outlook, To Do, Planner and Onenote. There will also be optional support for Google-based users).
Human Factors and Non-Technical Skills
Eligibility: | Duration: 1 day | Delivered by: Doctors Training | Format: Virtual via Zoom | Frequency: Twice per year
Unlock the power of human factors and non-technical skills to transform patient care and safety. This interactive workshop dives into the vital role these elements play in delivering exceptional healthcare.
Participants will gain hands-on strategies to prevent errors, enhance teamwork, and improve decision-making in high-pressure clinical settings.
The course provides insights into how to leverage human factors principles to create safer and more effective healthcare environments. Through dynamic activities and expert guidance, attendees will develop essential skills to enhance communication, manage stress, and implement best practices for continuous quality improvement.
Influence and Negotiation Skills
Eligibility: ST3-8 & GP ST1-3 | Duration: 1 day | Delivered by: Doctors Training | Format: Virtual via Zoom | Frequency: Once per year
Master the art of influence and negotiation to elevate your effectiveness in healthcare settings. This interactive workshop equips healthcare professionals with essential skills to foster teamwork, enhance collaboration, and deliver high-quality care. Participants will learn to navigate complex interactions with colleagues, patients, and stakeholders confidently. Explore proven techniques and strategies for influencing others and negotiating effectively. Through engaging activities and expert guidance, you’ll develop the skills needed to manage conflicts, build strong relationships, and achieve creative outcomes in challenging situations.
Interpersonal Communication Skills
Eligibility: ST3-8 & GP ST1-3 | Duration: 2 days | Delivered by: 4D Therapy | Format: Virtual via Zoom | Frequency: Three times per year
A 2 day course aimed at developing communication skills and expanding confidence in dealing with a range of communication challenges with patients, relatives and colleagues. There will be opportunities to practice, in a safe environment, a variety of approaches to tackle these issues. The learning will be problem based and experiential.
Leadership & Management (Final Year Trainees)
Eligibility: ST3-8 | Duration: 3 days | Delivered by: Edmund Cross | Format: Virtual via Zoom | Frequency: Three times per year
A three day course designed for senior trainees in their final year to develop knowledge, skills and insights into the leadership and management roles of the consultant. The learning outcomes include: Understanding the structures in health systems; Awareness of how power affects communication; Awareness and practice of communication tools; Experience in developing a business plan; The challenges in the transition from trainee to consultant. Participants will have the opportunity to reflect on their previous experience and development as a preparation for their leadership and management role.
Making the Transition to Consultant
Eligibility: ST3-8 | Duration: Half-day | Delivered by: Dr Reshad Khodabocus (DME- MYTT) | Format: Face to face | Frequency: Five times per year
This course will interactively explore starting as a consultant, developing special interests, leadership, innovation and maintaining creativity and sustainability over a consultant career spanning decades. The course will be rooted in positive work cultures that positively impact on clinical and non-clinical teams, focusing on maximising patient experience and staff wellbeing.
This will be highly interactive with participants requested to be open, honest and share experiences, apprehensions and form networks to promote collaborative working. Participants will identify their style of leadership, work approach and develop an appreciate the need for different styles within a capable supportive team.
Managing Imposter Syndrome
Eligibility: | Duration: 1 day | Delivered by: Dr Susy Stirling | Format: Virtual via Zoom | Frequency: Twice per year
Imposter Syndrome or Phenomenon is defined as ‘a collection of feelings of inadequacy that persist despite evidence of success’. This interactive workshop looks at what Imposter Syndrome is, how it gets in the way of our work, and then more importantly what tools are available to manage it. ‘Imposters’ suffer chronic self-doubt and are unable to internalise their accomplishments however successful they are in their field. This phenomenon is surprisingly common. It can get in the way of professional progress and job satisfaction. The day will include evidence-based solutions using ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) techniques. ACT has a huge body of evidence behind it and an impressive pedigree in providing practical tools that are easy to grasp and use.
Medical Ethics
Eligibility: ST3-8 & GP ST1-3 | Duration: Half-day | Delivered by: Dr Andrew Stanners | Format: Virtual via Blackboard | Frequency: Three times per year
A practical, case-based reminder of how to identify, analyse and resolve ethical dilemmas in clinical practice.
The session is discussion-based and seeks to emphasise the formulation, articulation and exchange of ethical ideas and theory.
Patient Safety - Investigating and Learning from Incidents
Eligibility: | Duration: 1 day | Delivered by: Doctors Training | Format: Virtual via Zoom | Frequency: Three times per year
A safe space to discuss, reflect on, and learn from patient safety incidents. Facilitated by experts, this workshop delves into the complexities of patient safety investigations from individual, team, and system perspectives, focusing on effective strategies to prevent future incidents. Participants will gain insights into best practices for incident investigation through System-based Patient Safety Incident Investigations, understand the importance of fostering a ‘Just Culture,’ and review human factors and ergonomics. The workshop covers psychological safety, the Duty of Candour, and support for ‘Second Victims,’ enhancing a supportive, no-blame culture in the workplace.
Peer Coaching
Eligibility: All doctors and dentists in training | Duration: 1 hour with follow-up session | Delivered by: Susy Stirling | Format: Virtual via Zoom | Frequency:
As we move through our careers we need to be proficient at all sorts of complex decision making. Peer coaching is one way of building safety and professionalism around that and is therefore a discipline which can serve well throughout your whole career. Coaching seeks to improve performance by offering challenge and support. It creates an opportunity to consider what you can do to support your personal professional development. Peer coaching means this time to think is offered by a peer in your professional environment who has also received this training and the support you offer is mutual.
Research Skills
Eligibility: ST3-8 & GP ST1-3 | Duration: 2 days | Delivered by: Professor Wendy Baird | Format: Virtual via Zoom | Frequency: Three times per year
This interactive course will provide you with an insight into the practicalities of designing and delivering a clinical research project that is relevant to the NHS. This will include what reviewers and funders will be looking for, alongside how decisions are made about the cost effectiveness of treatments and ultimately how to ensure research makes a difference.
Each stage of the process will include examples from a range of research projects which will be used to demonstrate the principles. Throughout there will be a focus on how to interpret and apply the evidence in the clinical setting.
Structure and Power Dynamics in Healthcare Systems
Eligibility: | Duration: 1 day | Delivered by: Edmund Cross | Format: Virtual via Zoom | Frequency: Once per year
This course outlines the current structure of the NHS and explores tensions and dilemmas for clinicians as leaders in it.
The course then uses a model of rank dynamics to develop understanding of and competence in communication when power dynamics are present.
Training the Trainers (Doctors Training)
Eligibility: ST3-8 & GP ST1-3 and recognised trainers | Duration: 2 days | Delivered by: Doctors Training | Format: Virtual via Zoom | Frequency: Five times per year
The Train the Trainer two-day programme is designed for healthcare professionals aiming to enhance their teaching skills and step into supervisory roles within medical education.
Day one focuses on education theory, learning needs analysis, and various teaching modalities, with hands-on micro-teaching practice. Day two transitions to supervision skills, feedback, and assessment, preparing participants to effectively mentor trainees and explore leadership opportunities in medical education.
Training the Trainers (Seventeen Seconds)
Eligibility: ST3-8 & GP ST1-3 and recognised trainers | Duration: 2 days | Delivered by: Seventeen Seconds | Format: Virtual via Zoom | Frequency: Four times per year
Do you want to develop your competence as a teacher or trainer? Are you interested in a career in medical education? Whether you are just starting out, or have some experience already, sign up now for this innovative blended learning course that will help you develop the knowledge, skills and confidence to level up as a medical educator. You will be given access to online materials via www.seventeenseconds.co.uk to complete in advance of and between the two in-contact learning days, which will take place on Zoom. You will work through these materials and the in-contact days as a cohort, utilising principles of social, experiential, and blended learning.
Understanding Finance and Developing Business Cases
Eligibility: ST3-8 & GP ST1-3 | Duration: 1 day | Delivered by: Doctors Training | Format: Virtual via Zoom | Frequency: Three times per year
Designed to enhance financial literacy and business case development skills for medical professionals. Participants will gain foundational knowledge of financial principles, practical techniques for budgeting, cost management, and revenue generation, crucial for effective decision-making. The workshop provides hands-on experience in creating and assessing business cases through case studies and practical exercises. Participants will learn to develop compelling business cases, manage budgets effectively, and employ strategies to maximize revenue. Tools and techniques for presenting business cases to stakeholders will also be covered to secure approval and funding.
Writing for Publication
Eligibility: ST3-8 & GP ST1-3 | Duration: 1 day | Delivered by: Jamie Hayes | Format: Virtual via Zoom | Frequency: Twice per year
The skill of writing an article – and getting it published in a peer-reviewed journal – is highly prized, but rarely taught. This one-day course concentrates on this skill, and in particular on the process of writing. The course will show you how to prepare, write and submit an original journal article that has a good chance of being accepted for publication. It will also set you well on the way to doing so.
Upcoming course dates
All courses are bookable via the Learner Support and Faculty Development Maxcourse site. To find upcoming course dates, please use the Maxcourse search tool, course list or course calendar.
Course list
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Course calendar
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