Chairing Clinical Meetings: A Practical Guide for NHS Teams

Why this topic matters

Effective meeting chairing is not just about keeping time; it's about facilitating productivity, fostering engagement, and driving tangible outcomes. In the NHS, where time is a critically scarce resource, every minute spent in a meeting must be valuable. Well-chaired meetings lead to:

• Improved Patient Care: Clear decisions, agreed treatment plans, and effective communication directly impact patient outcomes.
• Enhanced Team Efficiency: Focused discussions prevent drift, leading to quicker decision-making and action planning.
• Increased Staff Engagement and Morale: When meetings are perceived as productive and purposeful, attendees feel valued and are more likely to contribute constructively.
• Better Governance and Accountability: Documented decisions and assigned actions are easier to track and audit, supporting organisational standards.
• Optimised Resource Utilisation: By making meetings efficient, healthcare professionals can return to direct patient care or other critical tasks sooner.

Practical explanation

Chairing a meeting involves a blend of preparation, active facilitation, and follow-up. It's about more than just reading through an agenda; it’s about creating an environment where everyone can contribute meaningfully and decisions are reached effectively.

Before the Meeting: Laying the Groundwork

• Define the Meeting's Purpose and Objectives: What do you aim to achieve? Be specific. Is it for decision-making, information sharing, problem-solving, or celebrating successes? Communicate this clearly in the invitation.
• Develop a Clear Agenda: An agenda is your roadmap. Each item should have a clear purpose, a realistic time allocation, and, if applicable, an owner. Distribute it well in advance, ideally with supporting documents.
• Identify Key Attendees: Ensure all essential stakeholders are invited. Consider who needs to be present for decision-making and who needs to be informed.
• Allocate Roles (if appropriate): For larger or more complex meetings, consider assigning roles such as minute-taker, time-keeper, or presenting specific items.
• Familiarise Yourself with the Content: Understand the background and potential challenges for each agenda item. Anticipate potential sticking points or areas needing deeper discussion.
• Logistics Check: Ensure the meeting room (physical or virtual) is booked and functional. Test any technology, especially for hybrid meetings.

During the Meeting: Active Facilitation

• Start and End on Time: Punctuality sets a professional tone and respects attendees' schedules.
• Welcome and State the Purpose: Begin by welcoming everyone, reiterating the meeting's overall purpose, and quickly reviewing the agenda and ground rules (e.g., sticking to time, active listening, one conversation at a time).
• Guide Discussions: Keep discussions focused on the agenda item. Use open-ended questions to encourage participation and summarise key points to ensure understanding. Don't be afraid to politely redirect tangents.
• Manage Participation: Ensure everyone has an opportunity to speak, but also manage dominant voices. Use phrases like, "Thank you, [Name]. Let's hear from others on this point." or "We need to keep an eye on the time, so perhaps we can summarise the key points now."
• Drive Towards Decisions/Actions: For each item, clarify what outcome is expected. If a decision is needed, propose it clearly and seek consensus or a vote. If an action is required, assign it to a specific person with a deadline. Explicitly name the action, the owner, and the due date.
• Handle Conflict Constructively: If disagreements arise, acknowledge different perspectives. Focus on the issues, not personalities. If a resolution isn't immediately possible, consider deferring the item or assigning someone to investigate further offline.
• Summarise Progress: Periodically summarise what has been discussed, decided, and assigned, particularly before moving to the next agenda item.
• Record Key Points: Ensure the minute-taker is capturing decisions, action points (who, what, when), and key discussions. As chair, you are ultimately responsible for the accuracy of these outputs.

After the Meeting: Ensuring Follow-Through

• Review and Distribute Minutes/Action Log Promptly: Ensure minutes accurately reflect decisions and actions. Distribute them within a reasonable timeframe (e.g., 24-48 hours) to all attendees and relevant stakeholders.
• Follow Up on Actions: While not always the chair's direct responsibility to complete actions, ensuring they are progressed and reported on at subsequent meetings is crucial for accountability.
• Seek Feedback: Occasionally ask attendees for feedback on how the meeting was run. This demonstrates a commitment to continuous improvement.

Common pitfalls

• Lack of Clear Purpose: Meetings without defined objectives often drift and achieve very little.
• Poorly Structured Agenda: An agenda that is too vague, too packed, or missing time allocations makes effective chairing very difficult.
• Dominant Voices: Allowing a few individuals to monopolise the discussion can disengage others and stifle diverse perspectives.
• Lack of Decision-Making: Discussions that don't lead to clear decisions or actions are frustrating and wasteful.
• "Meeting Creep": Meetings that consistently run over time disrespect attendees' schedules and often indicate a lack of focus.
• No Follow-Up: Without clear minutes and action tracking, even productive meetings can lose their impact.
• Passive Chairing: A reluctance to guide discussions, challenge assumptions, or manage interruptions leads to unproductive sessions.

Step-by-step approach: Chairing an MDT Meeting

Let's apply these principles to a common clinical scenario: chairing a multi-disciplinary team (MDT) meeting focusing on patient care.

1. Preparation (1-2 days prior):

   • Confirm Patient List: Ensure all relevant patient cases are included and prioritised. Agree on the standard for presenting each case (e.g., brief summary, key diagnostics, proposed plan).
   • Distribute Patient Summaries/Notes: Share anonymised, relevant patient information (imaging, pathology, clinic letters) in advance to allow team members to prepare.
   • Review Agenda: Ensure the agenda is circulated, with estimated time per patient and any specific non-patient items (e.g., service updates).
   • Identify Presenters: Know who is presenting each case or item.

2. Opening the Meeting:

   • Welcome and Introductions (brief): If new members are present, a quick round of introductions helps.
   • State Purpose: "Good morning everyone. The purpose of today's MDT is to collectively review [x] patient cases and agree on optimal management plans, ensuring all relevant specialist perspectives are considered. We also have a brief update on [y] at the end."
   • Review Agenda & Ground Rules: Briefly walk through the patient list and any other items. Remind everyone of the need for concise presentations and respecting allocated time slots.

3. Facilitating Case Discussions:

   • Introduce Case: "Next up is Mrs. Jane Smith, presented by Dr. Patel. Dr. Patel, could you please give us a concise overview and your proposed management plan?"
   • Listen Actively & Prompt: Allow the presenter to detail the case. Ask clarifying questions as needed: "Could you elaborate on the most recent scan findings?" or "What are the patient's preferences regarding this treatment option?"
   • Invite Contributions: "Thank you, Dr. Patel. What are the thoughts from oncology? From the nursing team? From allied health?" Ensure all relevant disciplines contribute.
   • Synthesise and Seek Consensus: "So, it sounds like the consensus is to proceed with [treatment/investigation] and refer to [specialty]. Is everyone in agreement?"
   • Define Actions: "Great. Dr. Patel, you'll arrange the referral. Nurse Rodriguez, could you ensure the patient receives the information leaflet and booking details? We'll review in [duration] at the next MDT, or sooner if needed."
   • Time Management: "We have about 2 minutes left for this case. Are there any urgent final points before we move on?"

4. Closing the Meeting:

   • Review Actions: "Before we close, let's quickly review the actions from today: [List key actions, owners, and deadlines]."
   • Thanks: "Thank you all for your valuable contributions and for your time. Your input is critical to delivering excellent patient care. See you next week."
   • Request Minutes: "[Minute-taker's name], if you could circulate the minutes and action log by tomorrow, that would be greatly appreciated."

How Lazomis can help

While Lazomis does not directly chair your meetings, it can significantly enhance your ability to do so effectively by providing tools for structured planning, execution, and follow-up:

• Planning & Preparation: Use Lazomis to create and share agendas with attached documents, ensuring everyone is prepared for the discussion topics.
• Action Tracking: The platform's action management features allow you to log decisions and assign actions directly within your project or governance framework, ensuring clarity on who is doing what by when. This facilitates easy follow-up for the chair.
• Document Management: Store and retrieve all relevant meeting documents, policies, and supporting evidence securely, making pre-meeting review efficient for all attendees.
• Monitoring Progress: For recurring meetings (e.g., QI huddles, governance reviews), Lazomis dashboards can visualise the progress of actions and projects discussed, enabling the chair to provide quick updates and focus discussions on areas needing attention.

This resource supports, but does not replace, clinical judgement. Local policy, formulary and specialist advice should be followed.

Key takeaways

• Preparation is paramount: Define purpose, create a clear agenda with timings, and share pre-reading.
• Active facilitation is key: Guide discussions, manage participation, drive towards decisions, and stay on time.
• Focus on outcomes: Ensure clear decisions are made and actions are assigned with owners and deadlines.
• Follow-up is crucial: Distribute accurate minutes and track actions to maintain momentum and accountability.
• Respect everyone's time: Start and end punctually; keep discussions concise and relevant.