Lead the Way. Lead General Management.

Your future begins right here: laying the foundations for a progressive career in leadership and management.

This programme is aimed at equipping you with the skills, knowledge and confidence essential to making real improvements at the frontline of healthcare delivery.

The Scheme

The aim of the scheme is to fast-track trainees by giving them the level of ability required for director level appointments. We'll provide ample opportunity to gain practical experience and develop the knowledge, skills and personal qualities needed to succeed as future leaders in the roles of executive directors and chief executives.

You'll cover a range of activities as part of a continual learning process and then, by the time you reach the end of the scheme, you'll be able to demonstrate the capacity required to assume a senior position. These activities are designed to be achievable across all organisations. They'll illustrate how experience might be gained, be appropriate to local needs and provide opportunities for integrated working.

As trainees will come from diverse backgrounds and have varying levels of competence, individuals will have the opportunity to decide, in consultation with programme and placement managers, how their practical experience element is organised.

The Executive Director or Chief Executive role

The drive to improve services for patients and service users, and achieve best value, means a constantly changing organisation. That said, the fundamental roles of an Executive Director and a Chief Executive remain unaltered, although the context and emphasis changes all the time.

The key responsibilities of a chief executive, which also apply to executive directors and senior managers, are to:

establish, lead and direct strategic direction
build organisational capabilities
lead operations
ensure financial viability
lead a learning organisation
lead effective relationships with stakeholders.

For more information on management roles within the NHS please visit the NHS Careers website.

Working in the East England region we cover areas such as Essex, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Hertford, Norfolk and Suffolk.

Working in the East Midlands you could find yourself working in areas such as Leicester, Northampton and Nottingham.

You could join our London region as these graduates did.

The North East region covers locations such as Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Teeside and Durham.

Working in the West Midlands our graduates cover areas including Shropshire, Birmingham, Staffordshire and the Black Country.

Our North West region includes Cumbria, Lancashire, Cheshire, Manchester and Merseyside.

The South Central region covers locations such as Hampshire and Isle of White.

Graduates in the South East cover areas including Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Medway.

Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Dorset and Somerset and the South West Peninsular.

The Yorkshire & Humberside region covers locations such as Bradford, Kingston upon Hill, Leeds, Sheffield and York.