Background: Nurses and midwives are expected to fulfil leadership roles at all levels, but efforts to support them strategically are often unfocused.
Aim: To describe nurses' and midwives' clinical leadership development needs and their views on the issue.
Method: A survey was carried out with a random sample of nurses and midwives (911 responses), and 22 focus groups were conducted.
Results: Leadership development need was greatest in the domain of "developing the profession", while it was lower in areas associated with "managing patient care".
Discussion and conclusion: As nurses and midwives move further away from direct care, their clinical leadership development needs increase. A number of recommendations are made for education and training programmes.