About the Digital Health Leadership Programme

Including key dates, time commitments, funding and learner support information.

Background

The Digital Health Leadership Programme (DHLP) is a flagship NHS Digital Academy programme. Established in 2017 , it supports the need to develop and invest in supporting digital change leaders across the NHS.

To enable the effective implementation of, notably, the Analogue to Digital shift set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, our leaders need to oversee and lead the effective implementation, adoption and implementation of technology as well as ensuring the strategies, environment and culture are in place to enable this in their organisations.

DHLP helps address the capability gaps and the requirement to build effective digital leadership and decision-making in a digital environment and is delivered by the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London (and partners). It is now about to enter its 9th cohort, with learners due to start their journey from September 2026. To date, around 750 digital change leaders have enjoyed being part of the programme.

What is the Digital Health Leadership Programme?

The programme is a 12-month fully accredited Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) in Digital Health Leadership, delivered by the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London, with places funded centrally through the NHS Digital Academy. It is delivered through 8 modules via a mixed delivery model including self-learning with group virtual and group face-to-face sessions. Participants who successfully complete the PGDip have the option to extend their learning journey by completing a master’s degree (subject to participants securing their own funding, this master’s option is not funded centrally).  

We are recruiting a further 60 digital change leaders from across the NHS in England to participate in this upcoming Cohort 9. There will be a strong focus on learners demonstrating, through agreed measures, the direct impact/value of the learning on the change they are leading.

Who is the Digital Health Leadership Programme for?

The NHS Digital Academy defines 4 digital leadership 'personas' (from a learning framework perspective):

1. Explorers are anyone, irrespective of role, who wants to explore the concepts of digital leadership – they will be given the resources to do that
2. Embedders - are those responsible for managing or supporting others, taking the next steps in their digital leadership journey – they will be given the resources to develop their knowledge further
3. Drivers - are those involved in leading transformation, influencing change across services and organisations – they will be equipped with the knowledge and skills to lead change effectively
4. Shapers - are those making strategic decisions or leading organisations – they will be empowered to lead with impact and clarity in a digitally-driven workplace

DHLP is very much aimed at our ‘Drivers’ (who may well have responsibility as ‘Shapers’ too), so: 

• People who currently hold a role (accountability and responsibility) for leading significant change through implementing and/or optimising digital transformation in their organisation and can demonstrate their experience as a senior digital change leader
• People with the ability, intelligence, drive, personality and opportunity to apply the learning and demonstrate (through agreed measures) the value of it in their current role
• People who recognise the importance of user-focused digital change and the impact its use has on the workforce, including perceptions, motivations and attitudes of people related to digital change and transformation
• People who influence their organisation’s digital strategy and recognise their responsibility for this
• People who recognise the opportunity (and the significant investment in them) this programme brings and what they can bring to peers in their learning cohort, both during the programme and as alumni

Do also have a look at our Learning spotlight area which includes some great blogs from DHLP alumni who share their experience and what DHLP has meant to them and their career.

Key dates

Teaching dates

Teaching for Cohort 9 of the Digital Health Leadership Programme will commence from 9 September 2026. The deadline for the final assessment is the end of August 2027. In-person leadership forums – which are important to attend and bring exceptional value through their dedicated, face-to-face nature - will take place on the below dates: 

• 28 and 29 September 2026 in York
• 15 April 2027 in London
• 3 July 2027 (location tbc, likely Birmingham or Manchester)

The end of Cohort 9 celebration will take place in Spring 2028. The date will be confirmed in due course.

You will be expected to commit to all these dates and participate fully in the learning sessions alongside your peers.

Time commitments

We estimate that around 10 to 15 hours of study time/work is required outside of work, per week.

It is not an insignificant time commitment for people with already demanding jobs and busy lives so important to consider this at the point of application and – ideally – build in protected learning time if able. 

Your overall workload consists of weekly online learning sessions and independent learning on the virtual learning environment and through work-based learning. While your actual time spent working through content may vary according to the modules you study, the following gives an indication of how much time you will need to allocate to different activities at each level of the programme. At Imperial College London, each European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) credit taken equates to an expected total study time of 25 hours. Therefore, the expected total study time is 187.5 hours per 7.5 ECTS module, for a total of 1500 for the Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) (and 2250 for anyone continuing onto the Master of Science (MSc)).

We expect that you will spend 15% to 20% of the time engaging with online content, while the remainder will be comprised of independent and group study, completion of assignments, and up to 50% of your time directly applying your learning into practice through multiple improvement projects in your own organisation.

Funding

Places are fully funded through NHS England's NHS Digital Academy. Funding also covers overnight stays for multi-day leadership forums, as arranged by Imperial College London. This represents significant central funding support per learner and we hope this is reflected in your commitment to the programme, and in the benefits realised directly in leading change in your organisation.

You will (your organisation will) need to pay for travel and related subsistence expenses (for example, meals while travelling), as well as any additional accommodation either side of a leadership forum if required. You will need to consult your own organisation's policy regarding this.

Support available from Imperial College London (ICL)

You will benefit from the support offered from Imperial College London throughout the programme.