Applications to the Next Step Programme for 2025 to 2026 are now open!
An innovative programme that will provide important tools, knowledge and confidence for Resident doctors to thrive as leaders and managers within the NHS.
The context of leadership and management within the NHS has never been more challenging due to the pressures of a complex future. In response, NHS England - East of England are working with a powerful collaboration from King’s Health Partners, King’s Business School and the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management to deliver an innovative programme. The programme benefits from:
- Rigour and expertise drawn from a world-class university.
- Clinical insight through the lens of a leading Academic Health Sciences Centre.
- Cutting-edge content to tackle the challenges in delivering leadership and management successfully through specialist intervention.
About the Next Step programme
The Next Step Programme is an eleven-month immersive development experience accredited by the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management (FMLM). Each year, 70 Leadership and Management Fellows from across the East of England will be equipped with the tools and confidence to thrive as leaders and managers within a complex environment. Fellows will then use this expertise to act as leaders, sharing leadership and management insights with other Resident Doctors and healthcare professionals from within their organisations.
The programme will be delivered in four blocks of activity. Each will include a face-to-face workshop which will allow Fellows to address emerging issues and focus on new skills and adaptability needed for the years ahead. These will be supported by online programme elements and a 1-2-1 coaching session to debrief your 360 evaluation and report.
Who can join?
The programme is aimed at Resident Doctors (of all disciplines; from Primary Care, Secondary Care, Dentistry and Mental Health) who are within two calendar years of their expected CCT date at time of commencing the Next Step: Leadership and Management Fellows Programme and will therefore be starting to take on increased managerial and leadership responsibilities. Those doctors joining the program will also need to be an NTN holder in the East of England for the entire time of the program which runs from October 2025 to July 2026.
This programme directly addresses these needs and prepares the Fellows with both a thorough understanding of themselves, input into leadership and management within the healthcare context; but also provides a growing network of Fellows that will be mutually supporting as they take the next steps in their careers.
Please note, the program is currently not available for doctors of any grade who do not hold an NTN. It is also not available for doctors who are Out of Program at any stage of the program (although it is possible to apply if on an OOP and coming back into program by the date of program commencement)
More information about the application process and the link to the application form can be found at the bottom of this page.
What will the programme cover?
Total anticipate commitment of hours within the programme is 120 over the course of the year including the Fellows Quality Improvement Project which each Fellow will be expected to undertake as part of the programme. Kay elements of this include 4 face-to-face days covering:
Module 1 – Systems Leadership
This first module provides an orientation to the programme, introducing various models of leadership and drawing distinctions between leadership and management. There will be talks by a variety of speakers who share their leadership journeys and reflections will be offered on both the possibilities and limitations of leadership within the NHS.
Module 2 – Power and Politics in Organizations
This module views clinical leadership practice through the lens of organizational behaviour. Drawing on insights from MBA teaching on this topic and grounded in examples and experiences from healthcare settings, participants will explore the nature of politics and power in both teams and wider organizational structures.
Module 3 – Change Management
Delivered by Faculty from the Business School, this module will explore the various change management initiatives that the NHS has pursued in recent decades and conceptually categorise different approaches to managing change. We will also look in detail at the introduction of new roles into the NHS such as physician associates.
Module 4 – Capstone, best practice, and next steps
The final module is a presentation day for the participants on their Quality Improvement Projects. The projects will be assessed by an Executive Panel from King’s Health Partners, Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management (FMLM) and King’s Business School. The panel will choose the five best Quality Improvement Projects and during a Fellowship Awards ceremony those five participants will receive a bursary to cover the fee for FMLM Associate Fellowship.
In addition to the four face-to-face days there is a series of online masterclasses delivered live by faculty from King’s Business School and from King’s Health Partners:
Online Masterclass 1 – The Quality Improvement Project
Delivered by King’s Health Partners. The session will be 2 hours and will discuss the underlying principles, approaches and methods and how to plan and deliver quality improvement. This masterclass will outline the process of working with your supervisor and will include how Fellows can access the series of Action learning Sets and drop-in surgeries that will be provided for them to support their project through the programme.
Online Masterclass 2 – Crisis Management
This online masterclass presents the role of clinicians and leaders in responding to crisis situations, with a specific focus on the Covid-19 response. Other examples will be drawn from the aviation industry as well as the recent military conflict in Ukraine where rapid responses to setting up emergency medicine provision have been essential.
Online Masterclass 3 – Understanding finance in a healthcare setting
In this online masterclass Fellows will work interactively to interpret financial data, gain an overview of key financial trends in the NHS and deconstruct a set of financial statements from a relevant NHS trust. The objective of the online masterclass is to quickly improve the financial literacy of Fellows and enhance their understanding of the financial context within which they operate as clinicians.
Online Masterclass 4 – Disruptive thinking and entrepreneurial skills
We live in an uncertain world and the future is going to be shaped by those bold enough to lead and to create the world in which they want to live. This may seem grandiose but if you think about the products and services you use on a daily basis be that in travel, finance, entertainment, technology or even dating. Each of these innovations started with someone who was willing to question the way things are done, someone willing to solve a problem or take advantage of an opportunity. In this masterclass Fellows will be taken through a variety of tools, exercises, and games to help them bring out their inner disruptor. We will look at techniques Fellows can employ to come up with new and innovative ideas and apply these techniques to real challenges in the health care system today.
Online Masterclass 5 – Making and Evaluating Policy
This module explores policy making and evaluating processes. It enables participants to gain a thorough theoretical and practical knowledge of how public policy is made in general and how specific public policies are designed and developed. It examines the different stages of the policy making cycle, and covers the techniques, systems and strategies used in policy evaluation. Opportunities are provided to apply different approaches to policy evaluation to particular policy initiatives.
Online Masterclass 6 – AI and the future of Medicine
This webinar will focus on cutting edge work in Healthcare and Medical AI based technologies such as expert and decision support systems for prediction and diagnosis. This webinar will explore recent developments and applications of AI to medical professionals. Examples will be drawn from radiology and elsewhere.
In addition to the taught elements of the programme Fellows will benefit from the following value-added programme elements:
- 12-month Membership of the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management for all Fellows, allowing access to the suite of content available through FMLM and relevant networking events and opportunities
- FMLM Associate Fellowship application fee discounted to £200 per application for each Fellow upon graduation from the Next Step Programme (discount is valid for two years after completion of the programme). In addition, the top five best individuals in each cohort will have their applications funded by Kings.
- The FMLM 360 tool and feedback for all Fellows. FMLM accredited coaches will facilitate individual 360 debrief sessions.
- The programme includes two networking events with current and from other Fellows programmes and will conclude with an informative session on how participants can join King’s Executive Alumni Association and gain access to King’s Alumni benefits; join the Graduates Mentor pool and support subsequent cohorts, enabling the transfer of their new knowledge to others.
Who will we hear from - About the delivery partners:
The Next Step: Leadership and Management Fellows Programme brings together the powerful combination of expertise into a single programme:
- The Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management (FMLM), established in 2011 by all the UK medical royal colleges and faculties and endorsed by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, is the UK professional home for medical leadership. Our primary objective is to raise the standard of patient care by improving medical leadership.
- Kings Health Partners (KHP) is an Academic Health Sciences Centre where world-class research, education and clinical practice are brought together for the benefit of patients. We are here to translate cutting-edge research and existing best practice into excellent patient care.
- King’s Business School (KBS) undertake ground-breaking research that improves the way people do business. And we engage with organisations around the world to create real value for society. Since 1989, King’s Business School has grown into a leading management institution – and one of the largest in London. We’ve appeared in the top 10 for business and management studies three years in a row.
Dates and logistics
Applications will open from Tuesday 25th March 2025 and will close on Monday 2nd June 2025.
Face-to-face workshops will take place at The Jockey Club, Newmarket, Suffolk and at Bush House at the Strand in London (Government regulations permitting). Resident Doctors will be expected to be able to make their own arrangements for attending face-to-face workshops.
A summary of key delivery dates:
Face to face sessions:
- Module 1 – 8th October 2025 at The Jockey Club in Newmarket
- Module 2 – 10th December 2025 at The Jockey Club in Newmarket
- Module 3 – 26th February 2026 at Bush House, Strand, London
- Module 4 – 2nd July 2026 at The Jockey Club in Newmarket
Masterclasses:
The programme has 6 formal afternoon Masterclasses, these are delivered online and attendance at 4/6 of these is mandatory.
- Masterclass 1 – 17:00-19:00 18th September 2025 online 17:00-19:00
- Masterclass 2 - 17:00-19:00 5th November 2025 online 17:00-19:00
- Masterclass 3 - 17:00-19:00 13th January 2026 online 17:00-19:00
- Masterclass 4 - 17:00-19:00 18th March 2026 online 17:00-19:00
- Masterclass 5 - 17:00-19:00 16th April 2026 online 17:00-19:00
- Masterclass 6 - 17:00-19:00 21st May 2026 online 17:00-19:00
Action Learning Sets:
The programme also includes four 90-minute small group sessions which will be held via Zoom with Daghni Rajasingam, in groups of approximately 6. These will be held between November 2024 and March 2025. The following four topics will be covered:
Topic 1 – What is the problem and why is it a problem
Saturday 4th October 2025 (90-minute slots between 12:00 and 19:30)
OR
Friday 10th October 2025 (90-minute slots between 15:00-19:30)
Topic 2 – Engaging the multiple perspectives including organisation and systems
Friday 31st October 2025 (90-minute slots between 13:00 and 19:00)
OR
Saturday 1st November 2025 (90-minute slots between 12:00 and 18:00)
Topic 3 – Logic model for change – facilitators and barriers at all levels
Friday 5th December 2025 (90-minute slots between 13:00 and 19:00)
OR
Saturday 6th December 2025 (90-minute slots between 12:00 and 18:00)
Topic 4 – Action for change
Friday 9th January 2026 (90-minute slots between 13:00 and 19:00)
OR
Saturday 10th January 2026 (90-minute slots between 12:00 and 18:00)
Funding and Next Steps
The programme is fully funded by NHS England.
Those accepted onto the programme are expected to apply for study leave on the program dates at the time of accepting the application. Where this is not possible (because of lack of rotation information) they should notify the trusts/departments to which they will be rotating at the earliest opportunity. We would encourage you to do this prior to rotas being released if at all possible so that departments have as much notice as possible for your absence. Resident Doctors should ensure they apply for leave to attend the course in line with the local trust’s study leave processes.
Except in exceptional circumstances Resident Doctors are expected to attend all the face-to-face sessions and at least 4/6 of the Masterclasses.
➝ Please complete the application form using this link. N.B You will be required to upload an up-to-date CV and two supporting statements within the application form.
Queries and applications should be directed to kbsparticipants@kcl.ac.uk
Applications
Applications are open from Tuesday 25th March 2025 and all applications must be received by 17:00 on Monday 2nd June 2025 (or sooner if all places on the course have been filled). Applications received beyond this time will not be considered.
