Empowering Future Nursing Leaders: RCN Northern Ireland Leadership Challenge Returns

This event is designed to simulate the pressures and responsibilities of senior executive roles within a health and social care setting. Throughout the day, teams from five of Northern Ireland’s Health and Social Care Trusts tackled complex, real-world scenarios to test their ability to lead, make decisions under pressure, and uphold the highest standards of patient care.

This learning approach has proven highly successful in previous years, offering nurses a rare opportunity to step into senior leadership roles, develop strategic thinking and problem-solving skills and gain insights into executive-level decision-making.

The judging panel assessed how well each team kept patients at the heart of their decisions, prioritised nursing care quality and safety, and demonstrated effective leadership behaviours and communication.

Throughout the day, participating teams were put to the test with a series of unexpected interventions, designed to mirror real-life healthcare scenarios. These challenges demanded rapid decision-making, strong collaboration, and resilient leadership under pressure.

At the close of the event, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, Professor Nicola Ranger, addressed the participants, commending their dedication and leadership. Highlighted the importance of nurturing future nursing leaders, Nicola then presented awards to the standout teams which recognised excellence in overall performance, communication skills and future nursing leadership.

Commenting on the experience, RCN Northern Ireland Executive Director, Professor Rita Devlin, said: “This is not just a competition, it’s a powerful learning experience which is centred on preparing our nurses for the future, giving them the confidence and skills to lead with compassion and clarity in complex environments.

“Many congratulations to all of the teams who took part but particularly the Northern Health and Social Care Trust who won the overall award. All of the judges were extremely impressed by the quality of nursing staff who took part in this event, many of whom are the nurse leaders of tomorrow.”