Last week, over 100 students from the most recent Cohort of the Digital Health Leadership Programme (DHLP) came together for the first time to kick off their learning journey.
The two-day Forum in York gave students the opportunity to learn about expectations for the year, meet the academic team, and network with peers. Day 1 included talks and interactive sessions on individual strengths, while Day 2 focused on the collective, with participants engaging with their peer support groups.
Commissioned by the NHS Digital Academy at NHS England, the DHLP empowers health and care leaders to drive digital transformation in the NHS. The programme is delivered by a partnership of Imperial College London’s Institute of Global Health Innovation, HDR UK and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. The programme is targeted at individuals who are working in a role where they are required to drive and implement practical digital transformational change within their organisation or system.
Now in the seventh year of delivering the programme, we are pleased to be onboarding a diverse cohort of digital leaders and aspiring ones across the health and care spectrum. This includes an equal split between clinical and non-clinical digital roles, with good representation across midwifery, nursing, pharmacy, AHPs and other medical professions.
In this blog post, Cohort 7 students shared their motivations for applying for this programme and what they think the impact will be, as well as their impressions about the event.
Enhance digital skills and become better leaders
Enohi Odogu – Intelligence Partner
‘’I joined this programme to expand my knowledge in the digital health field, grow my network, and learn something new that I can apply in my organisation and the wider community. I aim to transfer that knowledge to my colleagues, or at least have them feel my impact in some way.
‘’As part of this event, we’re learning new things about ourselves—as managers, as leaders—and discovering what we need to do to become better people.’’
Jeffrey Loren Zurbano – Digital Clinical Nurse
‘’I have the opportunity to be a great contributor in my team, so I need to upskill myself, my leadership skills, especially around digital landscape.
‘’These two days have been really empowering. Meeting my peers and the teaching fellows ignited my passion to be a great leader and bring about changes in the digital landscape and the NHS. I’m very happy to have each of my peers in the different groups. we have many different opinions, which I appreciate, as I enjoy being challenged with my ideas.’’
Alice Butler – Lead Digital Midwife (continuing student)
‘’I completed the Postgraduate (PG) Certificate in Digital Maternity Leaders previously and now progressed to the PG Diploma. I was seeking further training and community for clinicians who found themselves in similar roles to mine, to support my work and gain more knowledge.
‘’My original training was as a midwife, not in digital health, so I found myself in this niche of healthcare that I really enjoy and want to learn more about to see what the impact is.’’
Jo Williams – Diagnostic Workforce Lead
‘’I can absolutely see how the data and systems we use within the workforce haven’t caught up with the rest of the digital world. So, I’m hoping to gain from this course not only opportunities to enhance my leadership skills and support my career development, but also to advance the workforce systems and help our diagnostics staff become more digitally enabled and ready for the future.
‘’Since I had to defer for a year, I was very impressed by how supportive the team was when I wanted to start again this year. The Forum today has been outstanding, and I am thrilled to be here!’’
Translate learning into tangible outcomes in my workplace
Dr Myra Malik – Anaesthetist and DCIO
‘’I’ve taken on some more senior leadership roles in digital, and I felt I needed to gain more expertise to perform better in those roles. I decided to come to Imperial to do that, and to translate that learning into tangible outcomes and see effective change happen in the organisation I work for.
‘’It’s been great meeting others in the cohort and the new peer support group I’ll have this year. I’m sure there will be some ups and downs that we’ll need to support each other through.
‘’My favourite session was the strengths assessment. It emphasised the importance of viewing yourself not through a deficit lens, but rather through a positive perspective on what can be improved. Using your natural talents and strengths can help in areas of your life where you don’t feel as strong, which I find quite pivotal.’’
Prabha Vijayakumar – National Chief AHP Information Officer
‘’I would like to gain an academic understanding of the programme and how we apply clinical informatics in the broader AHP-related field. Being appointed as the first Chief AHP Information Officer has provided me with the platform to raise the profile of AHPs within the digital agenda across the NHS, so I am motivated by this.
‘’It’s fantastic to meet all the colleagues who have joined the program, as well as the academic staff. I am impressed with the facilities here and how organised and supportive the team is!’’
Help us work collaboratively instead of in silos
Kanthan Theivendran – Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
‘’I’ve been involved in many digital health projects in my Trust, and I’m eager to improve stakeholder engagement and collaboration among executive teams, clinical teams, and IT to effectively deploy digital health systems.
‘’Networking with like-minded people in different roles has been the best part for me. I believe this can drive change and facilitate knowledge sharing across the NHS, helping us work collaboratively instead of in silos. That’s how we can learn from each other and accelerate progress in digital health for the UK and NHS. The insights on leadership styles, CliftonStrengths, and the reflective learning session were particularly valuable to me.’’
‘This programme is pushing me out of my comfort zone’
Holly Paris – Associate Clinical Director
‘’I work in primary care in an area of high social deprivation in the UK. When you work in a place with such deep need, digital change is one of the obvious equalizers. But how do you make that happen? I’m here to understand what we need to do better to implement change at the ground level.
‘’What I saw happening today was many people making an effort to go beyond speaking with those they already knew or had sat next to. This created a really convivial vibe, which was great for setting up peer groups. That’s one of the most inspiring things I’ve noticed—how the learning over the last six cohorts has allowed this to happen fairly organically.’’
Ahmed ElSayed – Clinical Systems Change Lead
‘’My first motivation is engaging with more people from different backgrounds, from clinical to project management. My second motivation is gaining hands-on experience rather than just theory. Third, I am interested in learning and stepping out of my comfort zone.
‘’I want to get the most out of this course and apply the principles I learn here both in my personal life and within my team. I believe that if I don’t change, nothing will change.
Ben Jeeves – Associate Chief Clinical Information Officer
‘’I was looking for something that would impact my work and challenge me on different levels. After the last two days, I am certain that’s exactly what I will get. The past two days have been intense, giving me lots of stimuli and challenges—all the things I was hoping for. I hope this will continue for the next 12 months.
‘’The insights from the strengths assessment have definitely been a key highlight for me. I believe that’s a ‘gift’ that will continue to provide value, a resource to go back to and learn from, offering ongoing reflections.‘’
Find out more about the Digital Health Leadership Programme, and read about the programme accreditation with the Federation for Informatics Professionals in Health and Social Care.