NHS Leadership Academy Case Study

The NHS Leadership Academy, working with Alliance Manchester Business School and a consortium of partners, have co-created and are co-delivering two of healthcare’s largest ever professional leadership development programmes. These programmes are transforming the NHS’s working culture, preparing it to meet huge new challenges and helping revive its reputation following the damaging Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust crisis.

These programmes are available to both clinical staff and staff in other healthcare settings:

• The Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Programme: for mid-level leaders aspiring to a senior role
• The Nye Bevan Programme: for senior colleagues preparing for executive and Board level roles

With direct and continuous input from patients and working in partnership, we have created a unique and innovative blended learning experience, combining online and experiential learning. This includes a bespoke “Virtual Campus” and interactive case studies based on real patient scenarios, to create a learning environment that directly addresses fundamental NHS leadership challenges.

The programmes are immensely popular and to date circa 3000 NHS leaders have taken part. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with a string of awards, and intense international interest. Participants return to the workplace with the confidence and ability to make the NHS a better place for patients and staff, by changing the leadership culture, transforming services, and introducing new levels of professionalism and compassion, increasing trust in a cherished national institution.

In 2019, as part of ongoing programme development, the NHS Leadership Academy worked in collaboration with Alliance Manchester Business School and the University of Birmingham to provide access to the award-winning Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Programme as part of an apprenticeship - enabling health and social care organisations to utilise the Apprenticeship Levy to develop their future senior leaders.

The newly developed Senior Leader Apprenticeship Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Programme builds on the success of the existing programme and incorporates the knowledge, skills and behaviours required for a senior leader apprenticeship award. The programme design combines real-world experience with the practical application of leadership.

Corrina Thomas, Senior Programme Lead, NHS Leadership Academy, said: "The NHS Leadership Academy is keen to increase the reach of the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson programme in line with the NHS People Plan, the NHS Long Term Plan and in response to the recent Messenger report."

"The pilot Senior Leader Apprenticeship Elizabeth Garrett Anderson has demonstrated that the health and care sector is increasingly keen to utilise their levy for leadership and management development, and that the apprenticeship model is more supportive for individual learners due to the delivery method and involvement of work-based mentors and having protected time off the job learning."

"The pilot cohorts were more diverse in terms of protected characteristics, employers, and profession which is excellent and supports the research that apprenticeships support widening participation."

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