How a National Health Service (NHS) hospital successfully designed a leadership programme for disabled staff

Disabled staff are significantly underrepresented and face limited career opportunities within healthcare. This pilot study aimed to assess the feasibility and effectiveness of an internal positive action programme for disabled staff focusing on healthcare leadership, involving sessions from executive directors, combined with self-leadership through selected podcasts.

In 2024, a course designed for disabled staff with a total of 10 leadership workshops was delivered by executive directors and matched with 10 self-leadership podcasts, supported by a reflective workbook. The programme's recruitment and retention were measured, as well as undertaking an embedded mixed methodology with quantitative and qualitative analysis to understand the effectiveness of the programme.

A total of 14 participants signed up for the programme from different disciplines and levels in healthcare. No participants dropped out of the programme. Self-reported scores on leadership, the ability to navigate the organisation and requesting reasonable adjustments were all shown to have improved after the leadership programme. Key takeaways for participants included better understanding of change management, advocacy, networking, new career pathways and the complexity of the National Health Service (NHS) system.

Executive directors within provider organisations could take the lead on local and tailored positive action programmes, potentially improving disability leadership within the NHS.