Leaders-to-be have until the 1 June to apply for the third cohort of the aspiring chief executive programme at the NHS Leadership Academy.
The programme was first introduced in 2014 and is a result of collaboration among NHS Improvement, NHS Providers and the NHS Leadership Academy, in response to the challenge ‘of how identifying, developing and deploying our most senior leaders’.
Since the first cohort, 10 of the previous 27 participants have already been appointed to lead trusts.
Leaders of the future
NHS Providers said that this programme will give ‘the right leadership support’ to enable individuals with the right skills, attitudes and behaviours to build a better NHS.
Together with NHS Leadership Academy and NHS Improvement, NHS Providers thought of this programme in response to the difficult challenge of finding ‘credible candidates willing to put themselves forward for provider chief executive roles’.
They also wanted to make sure they implemented a ‘structured development programme’ for this position, as ‘the 233 trust chief executives are formally accountable for £70bn of public expenditure, over 750,000 staff and a million patient interactions every 36 hours’, as NHS Providers chief executive Chris Hopson explained in a blog.
‘Pivotal to the quality of care’
Programme director for the aspiring chief executive programme Penny Lock said: ‘Those who are leading the provision of healthcare services are pivotal to the quality of care provided within their organisations and across their wider systems.
‘They need to manage competing demands, lead with authority, collaborate with understanding and create the conditions for innovation.’
Executive director of improvement at NHS Improvement Adam Sewell-Jones said that leadership development is an important area of concern for them, and that NHS Improvement decided to get involved in the programme ‘to develop and support future leaders within the service’.
Applications for the new, NHS Leadership Academy funded cohort are now open. Click here to apply.
