Last week I had the privilege of presenting at the Queen’s Institute of Community Nursing (QICN) Annual Conference about Community Leadership and how it’s shaping the future of care.

Community nurses are the backbone of local health delivery. We see first-hand the realities patients face from managing long-term conditions at home to supporting families through complex health and social challenges. But leadership in this space isn’t just about clinical expertise, it’s about compassion, collaboration, and courage.

What Makes Great Community Leadership?

For me, leadership starts with clinical credibility and a deep understanding of the communities we serve. It’s about making sound decisions, even with limited resources, and creating the conditions where every member of the team feels valued and supported.

• Collaboration is key: building trust and shared purpose across disciplines.
• Communication matters: staying calm and compassionate, even in challenging circumstances.
• Advocacy is non-negotiable: ensuring patients’ voices are heard and that services reflect local priorities, not just national targets.
• Strategy and innovation go hand in hand: aligning community care with broader public health goals and tackling social factors like housing, education, and access.
• Mentorship: helping others grow, develop confidence, and become the next generation of leaders.

But It’s Not Without Its Challenges

We can’t ignore the very real pressures facing community care today – workforce shortages, burnout, inequalities, digital exclusion, mental health demand, and funding uncertainty, to name a few.

Limited or inconsistent funding for community health programs, of course we are hoping for change with the NHS 10-year plan and desire to move care closer to home, but significant funding needs to be available to future proof services like Neighbourhood Health.

Acknowledging the digital divide that not all patients have access to or familiarity with technology. The is a need to manage clinical decision fatigue and tech overload for clinicians. So, making good sound decisions about tech choice is so important.

I also talked about the need to change the narrative, to showcase the incredible, life-changing work community nurses do every single day. We need to make community care a career of choice, not chance.

Making Leadership Real

Good nursing leadership in community and primary care is visible, values-driven, collaborative, and adaptable. It balances clinical excellence with compassion, strategy with advocacy, and the immediate needs of individuals with the broader health of the population.

Leadership doesn’t have to mean being in charge, it’s about influence. It’s about connection. It’s about seeing a gap and helping to close it. When clinicians are part of the conversation, decision-making improves, morale lifts, and outcomes for patients get better. That’s the impact of visible, values-driven leadership.

The feedback I received reminded me that leadership isn’t just about what we say, it’s about how we listen, reflect, and act. So, to everyone working in community and primary care: keep leading from wherever you are. Your voice, your compassion, and your courage are exactly what our communities need most right now.

The feedback from the session:

“Excellent session, thank you Lisa.”

“Thank you Lisa for sharing realistic information.”

“Thanks Lisa, great session and good to hear you comment on the importance of recognising digital exclusion and working to reduce this across all areas.”