Leadership & Development

The Mary Seacole programme offers nationally consistent, entry-level leadership training for practice managers, nurses, PCN managers, community pharmacists and early-career GPs. It builds confidence, core leadership skills, and resilience - strengthening succession planning and stabilising neighbourhood teams.

This helps frontline leaders deliver prevention-focused care, improve productivity, and support the NHS ambition to shift services from hospitals into the community.

CMI qualifications are designed to meet the knowledge, skills, and behaviours sought by employers in their workforce. Learners will have the opportunity to achieve CMI Level 5 Certificate in Management and Leadership, alongside obtaining the NHS Leadership Academy Award in Healthcare Leadership.

Programme length: 10 months.
Delivery method: Online with independent online learning.
Course Fee: FREE. Fully Funded Places (which would usually cost £1200)
Start date: February/March 2026

Further details on cohort dates and the application process to follow

To make the most of this fully funded opportunity, we encourage you to start having conversations with your line manager.

Use the following link to register your interest:

Neighbourhood teams depend on mid-career leaders to integrate care, manage pressure, and keep staff engaged. Yet, leadership development opportunities in primary care have lagged those in secondary care.

The Rosalind Franklin programme helps close this gap by offering tailored leadership training for practice managers, lead nurses, PCN managers, community pharmacists, and mid-career GPs. It strengthens leadership capability, builds a diverse pipeline of future senior leaders, and supports the government’s three shifts:

Boosting productivity through strong local leadership
Embedding prevention via better coordinated care
Enabling truly place-based services

This is key to delivering the NHS 10 Year Health Plan’s goal of shifting care closer to home.

CMI qualifications are designed to meet the knowledge, skills, and behaviours sought by employers in their workforce. Learners will have the opportunity to achieve CMI Level 7 Award in Strategic Management and Leadership Practice, alongside obtaining the NHS Leadership Academy Award in Senior Healthcare Leadership.

Programme length: 12 months
Delivery method: Online with independent online learning.
Course Fee: FREE. Fully Funded Places (which would usually cost £1500)
Start date: February/March 2026

Further details on cohort dates and the application process to follow

To make the most of this fully funded opportunity, we encourage you to start having conversations with your line manager.

Use the following link to register your interest:

This training programme is open to all bands 6-8a (or equivalent) clinical and operational staff, supporting them to develop their skills in operational management with practical tools they can apply in their day-to-day work and future careers.

While the programme includes some basic improvement training (which may be familiar to those with previous experience), its primary focus is broader—developing skills in operational management and team leadership. We encourage participation even if you've completed other improvement courses, as this programme offers a much wider scope.

It includes a one-day core module for all participants, focusing on leading teams and leading improvement, as well as a range of half-day specialty-specific modules that focus on operational management skills across a variety of clinical areas: Urgent and Emergency Care (UEC), Cancer, Outpatients, Theatres and Perioperative Care, Mental Health, Elective Care, and Diagnostics.

Primary care leaders play a vital role in shaping integrated neighbourhood services, improving patient outcomes, and leading transformation at system level. Yet, senior leadership development in primary care has often lagged opportunities available in secondary care.

The Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Programme addresses this gap by offering advanced leadership training tailored for senior leaders in primary care – including PCN Clinical Directors, senior GPs, practice managers, and system-level leaders. It equips participants with strategic leadership skills, system thinking, and inclusive approaches to drive change across local health economies.

This programme is key to achieving the NHS Long Term Plan’s ambition of shifting care closer to home and strengthening local leadership.

Programme length: 24 months
Delivery method: Blended learning (online modules, residential workshops, and applied projects)
Course Fee: This programme is funded through a dual model: £7,000 by the NHS Leadership Academy and £7,000 by the applicant’s organisation or self-funded.
Start date: February/March 2026

Further details on cohort dates and the application process to follow

To make the most of this fully funded opportunity, we encourage you to start having conversations with your line manager.

Use the following link to register your interest:

There NHS Leadership Academy are offering the Apprenticeship opportunities in Business Administration, Team Leadership, Operational Management and Senior Leadership.

The Leadership Development team aims to uplift the capability of our leaders and create positive continuous cultural and behavioural change. The team ultimately looks to enhance patient and employee experiences by supporting our leaders to deliver against the NHS People Plan objectives. Fostering a culture of inclusion and belonging is a thread that runs through the team’s work as we strive to deliver inclusive leadership development interventions that reach a diverse cross-section of the workforce.

If you want to feel more able to deal with the daily challenges of working in healthcare, better equipped to care for patients, lead services and provide leadership for those around you – supporting them to do their job better – the Edward Jenner programme is for you.

The Mary Seacole programme is a six month leadership development programme which was designed by the NHS Leadership Academy in partnership with global experts, Korn Ferry Hay Group, to develop knowledge and skills in leadership and management.

PMA Apprenticeships are an ideal way to enhance skills and knowledge to further your career or develop your own teams. Apprenticeships are a key way to recruit, develop and retain new and established teams.

This programme is designed for health and care managers and supervisors to help them develop core inclusive leadership skills.

Develop inclusive and compassionate leadership skills to ensure diversity and equality in the health and care industry.

Management and Leadership qualifications can be studied in a variety of formats, delivered by our Approved Centres across the nation.
Find the right fit for you by job role below, or browse our full list of qualifications in our qualification library.

Join the thousands of other people who enhanced their performance with an ILM qualification last year, and fast-track your way to the top with our leadership and management qualifications. Ranging from Levels 2 to 7, our qualifications cater to all levels of management and offer a clear route to career progression.

The Leadership Learning Zone is a flexible e-learning resource that takes a learner on an interactive exploration of key areas of leadership development. This suite of introductory modules developed by the Midlands Leadership Academy is equally relevant to learners who are just starting in their careers as well as experienced managers who want to consolidate their leadership capabilities.

The Foundations in System Leadership; collaborating for health and care programme is open to all colleagues working in health, care, local authorities and voluntary sector partnerships, who have a desire to improve the way they collaborate across organisational, professional and hierarchical boundaries to design and deliver better health outcomes for the communities they serve.

Leadership Listens is a series of curated podcasts for leaders in health and care. This mini-series of podcasts is all about compassionate leadership and is a collection of conversations between Professor Michael West and leaders from across the health and care sector, based around Michael’s latest book – Compassionate Leadership: Sustaining Wisdom, Humanity and Presence in Health and Social Care.

PMA Diplomas are a more relaxed and personal route to gaining new skills and knowledge to achieve your qualification of choice. They enable us to concentrate on providing learning and coaching that fits around you and your work. Typically, most learners will complete in six months.

The Rosalind Franklin programme will support you to become outstanding innovators, leaders, and team members working across the health and care system, to help improve services for people and communities that access them. The programme is 9 months long with eight workshop days and you’ll be expected to commit approximately four to five hours a week to study.