Mediation Skills for Senior Paediatric Healthcare Professionals

April 14th - May 7th 2026

Conflict and communication breakdown between healthcare providers, patients, families and colleagues is time-consuming and stressful. It can also have a significant impact on the delivery of clinical care and staff and family well-being.

This course will equip you with the key communication and mediation skills you need to manage conflict and empower you to build trusting and collaborative relationships with parents, families and clinical colleagues in a pressurised healthcare environment.

As Martha’s Rule is being rolled out across the NHS, the course will also give you effective skills and strategies for listening and responding to parental concerns.

Apply

Complete the short application form

Places are limited to 12 participants.  

The faculty review all applications on receipt.  Once accepted, a 10% deposit is payable to secure your place.

Why this course? 

• Expert Instruction: Delivered by a team with extensive experience and a proven track record in providing conflict management training to more than 11,000 healthcare professionals in the NHS and internationally.
• Comprehensive Curriculum: Aligns with the RCPCH Progress curriculum, covering key competencies in communication, professional values, leadership and team working.
• Virtual Convenience: Learn from anywhere with interactive Zoom sessions, tailored for busy healthcare professionals.
• Who should attend? Senior paediatric healthcare professionals from any discipline or role - multi-disciplinary participation will enhance your learning

Course Content:

• The dynamics of conflict escalation in paediatric settings.

• Essential mediation skills for managing conflict at various levels of severity.

• The importance of listening in preventing conflict and building trust.

• Preparing for and navigating difficult conversations with patients, families, and colleagues.

• Understanding the neurophysiology and psychological effects of conflict on healthcare providers.

• Techniques for self-regulation in conflict.

• Identifying and addressing biases and assumptions in conflict.

• Understanding and improving your personal approach to conflict to manage relationships with colleagues and improve team dynamics

Course Details

• Format: Online via Zoom.

• Duration: 10 x four hour sessions (09:00–13:00 UK time).

• Cost: £1,500 (VAT inclusive).

Please note: This course does not accredit you to be a mediator but it will provide you with mediation skills and strategies to use when managing conflict with patients, families and colleagues. 

Testimonials from 2025 Course participants:

          “Excellent course, probably one of the best in my career.  It was the guidance and fantastic skills of the organisers, who supported us throughout, that made this so valuable.  Thank you!”  Zuzana- Consultant Anaesthetist.

          “Some of the most impactful hours of learning and practicing and I cannot praise enough all the facilitators and their skills, sensitivity and insight.” Christina -  Paediatric  Intensive Care Consultant.

          “Healthcare environments are very conducive to conflict, given the high stakes and highly pressurised environment, however it’s not part of any curriculum.  I found this course very valuable and now feel I have a new set of skills, a diagnostic toolkit for managing conflict.” Niamh - Consultant Paediatrician. 

          “This training with MMF should be essential for all health professionals.  So helpful and life changing.” Gabrielle - Paediatric Intensive Care Consultant, New Zealand. 

          “I really enjoyed this course and would recommend.  It was extremely applicable to my day-to-day role..  The shared learning was exceptional”  Joanne - Consultant Paediatrician 

Course dates and Session times (all 09.00-13.00 UK time)

Week	Day	Date
1	Tuesday	14th April
	Wednesday	15th April
	Friday	17th April
2	Tuesday	21st April
	Thursday	23rd April
3	Monday	27th April
	Tuesday	28th April
	Thursday	30th April
4	Wednesday	6th May
	Thursday	7th May

Course faculty

Sarah Barclay, Founder and Director

Sarah is the founder of The Medical Mediation Foundation and an accredited mediator specialising in mediating disagreements between parents and health professionals about the care and treatment of children. MMF provides mediation and conflict management training to support health professionals to recognise and manage conflict. She was the co-director of the pioneering Evelina Resolution project which piloted the use of mediation and conflict management training to clinical and non-clinical staff at the Evelina London Children’s Hospital. Since 2010, MMF has trained more than 11,000 health professionals in managing conflict in the UK and internationally.

Sarah has a Masters degree in Medical Law and Ethics from King’s College London and is a former award winning journalist, author and BBC social affairs presenter.

Dr Esse Menson, Mediator, Trainer and Coach

Esse is an OCN-accredited mediator and conflict resolution trainer, specialising in resolving disputes in health and social care commissioned by NHS trusts, GP practices, legal advisers, families and individuals. In healthcare mediation, she supports parties to reach effective resolutions to complex disputes or relationship-breakdowns and her experience includes patient - health professional mediation and conflict coaching / parent - health professional mediation / end of life decision-making mediation / multi-agency disputes – healthcare: social care: family disputes / colleague – colleague mediation / team recalibration and development support.

Esse was a consultant paediatrician at a leading London children’s hospital and has experience of healthcare disagreements from the patient / parent perspective and their impacts. She was the co-director of the pioneering Evelina Resolution project which piloted the use of mediation and conflict management training to staff at the Evelina London Children’s Hospital. She is a principle trainer on the courses delivered by MMF across the UK and internationally, and is co-author of the e-learning courses MMF has produced for NHS-England.

Oscar Mathew, Director, Trainer and Mediator

Oscar is a qualified barrister and mediator. He specialises in clinical team development, facilitation and workplace conflict resolution, helping teams to engage with difficult issues and bringing a balance of voices to a room.

Oscar is a former Senior Legal Adviser to the General Medical Council. He was involved in setting up a pioneering facilitated meeting pilot programme for the GMC called ‘Meetings With Doctors’. This involved meeting with doctors under investigation by the GMC in order to try to help them best respond to the allegations against them.

 

Complete the application form