Background
The NHS 10 Year Health Plan for England sets out a bold vision for transforming health and care services across England. It emphasises the need for system-wide change, driven by empowered leadership, integrated planning, and a renewed focus on workforce development. Central to this transformation is:
- Building leadership capacity across all levels of the NHS.
- Embedding inclusive and compassionate cultures.
- Reforming how services are planned and delivered to meet the evolving needs of patients and communities.
Every year the NHS Graduate Management Training Scheme recruits graduates with high leadership and management potential across England. Over two to two and a half years, GMTS provides these graduates with a range of leadership development and education to train and develop their potential into mid-level NHS leaders. Its purpose is to provide a pipeline of inclusive, compassionate and high-quality leadership for the NHS.
GMTS is one of the flagship development programmes within healthcare, having developed senior leaders across the service. It offers both new graduates and existing NHS staff the opportunity to train in one of four specialisms:
- General Management
- Human Resources
- Finance
- Heath Informatics
Work-based placements are one of three key threads that train and develop future leaders on the Scheme, alongside leadership education and professional qualifications. All trainees complete a minimum of two work-based placements in health and care, working alongside existing managers and leaders to develop the practical experience and skills outlined in the Scheme's competency frameworks. The Scheme's competency frameworks reflect both leadership and specialism-specific competencies required of trainees to succeed in their chosen specialism.
The GMTS assurance process is designed to ensure consistent delivery of the third thread, work-based placements, across all integrated care systems. Work-based placements must provide trainees opportunities to achieve their competencies and develop the practical skills and knowledge required within their field. Work-based placements must also provide trainees with the opportunities to practice and develop the leadership behaviours outlined in their leadership education. To achieve this, work-based placements must be meaningful, inclusive and safe learning experiences for trainees.