Strategic Leadership for Healthcare
For current and aspiring healthcare leaders to help you become a leader who can respond to and thrive in the continually changing and challenging healthcare context.
Start date
Monday 29 September 2025
Duration
6 weeks
Mode
Online (1 live online session per week)
Standard fee
£1,800* (*NHS staff & UCL staff and alumni 20% discount)
Become a Strategic Healthcare Leader in a Changing World
Healthcare is constantly evolving to address the growing complexity of public health goals and the demand for modern healthcare services. From demographic shifts and rising costs, the integration of new technologies to navigating the private-public healthcare interface, the sector faces numerous challenges. Now more than ever, the healthcare sector needs strategic leaders capable of navigating these complexities and drive healthcare organisations toward success.
Why Strategic Leadership in Healthcare Matters
Healthcare leaders are required to make critical decisions that balance diverse and shifting priorities. Effective leadership is key to overcoming daily challenges and achieving long-term organisational goals.
About the Six-Week Online Programme
This comprehensive six-week online programme is designed to empower aspiring and current healthcare leaders. Through a combination of theoretical insights, self-reflection, and interactive learning, you'll gain the tools to adapt and thrive in the ever-changing healthcare landscape.
This programme will support you to:
- Develop Your Identity as a Strategic Leader: Build your identity as a strategic healthcare leader grounded in personal growth and self-development
- Challenging Perspectives: Reflect on your current leadership practices, challenge traditional concepts, and adopt innovative approaches.
- Collaborative Learning: Engage in a supportive environment where you can ask questions, share experiences, and gain insights from instructors and peers.
Why Choose This Programme?
This programme explores strategic leadership in healthcare, emphasising AI-driven decision-making, predictive analytics, and strategic planning. Through case studies and real-world applications, students will develop strategic thinking and leadership capabilities essential for healthcare transformation. This programme offers a safe and encouraging space to develop your strategic vision, share your insights and enhance your leadership skills. Join us to navigate the complexities of healthcare leadership with confidence and clarity.
Programme aims
This programme is designed to equip healthcare leaders with the tools and insights needed to excel in dynamic healthcare ecosystems and will provide you with:
- An understanding of purposeful and strategic leadership serves as the cornerstone of organisational success within healthcare ecosystem
- Enhanced personal leadership skills. Engage in active learning activities that promote self-reflection and self-improvement, helping you refine the leadership skills essential for navigating complex healthcare environments
- Insights into and knowledge of collaborative leadership roles, with a special emphasis on collaboration, stakeholder engagement, and team-building strategies to advance strategic objectives in your healthcare ecosystem
- Evaluate how you can engage clinical and non-clinical leaders to develop your strategy and vision.
- Apply value-based negotiation to your work setting and evaluate the effect it has on team members.
Who this programme is for
This programme is designed for individuals who have an understanding of healthcare management or leadership concepts, who are mid-career and at manager or head level within a healthcare organisation or health related industries where advancing strategic leadership insights would be of value.
This could include, but is not limited to:
- HR staff
- clinical staff
- policymakers
- healthcare managers

Programme content
The programme includes three modules:
- Understanding Strategic Leadership in Healthcare
- Defining strategic leadership and its role in healthcare transformation
- Key strategic frameworks: Porter’s Five Forces, Blue Ocean Strategy, Balanced Scorecard
- Aligning strategic vision with healthcare challenges
- Developing Competitive Advantage & Market Strategy
- Market analysis and competitive positioning in the healthcare sector
- Financial forecasting and resource allocation for strategic growth
- Decision-making strategies for long-term sustainability
- Strategic Thinking & Leadership Capabilities
- Effective leadership approaches for driving organisational success
- Assessing personal leadership style and strengths
- Leading teams through complex strategic decisions
In a landscape of an ageing population with technological and healthcare advancements, this module challenges you to crystallise yourself and your qualities as a leader:
- Learn how to embrace diversity and how to apply this in a practical way at work
- Evaluate your key strengths and how you can leverage these to your advantage in your leadership role.
- Reflect on how you can cultivate high performance and productivity at a team and organisational level, as a leader
- Evaluate how you can engage clinical and non-clinical leaders to develop your strategy and vision.
- Apply value-based negotiation to your work setting and evaluate the effect it has on team members.
- Driving Change & Transformation in Healthcare
- Strategic leadership in digital transformation and operational efficiency
- Leading organisational change and fostering innovation
- Workforce planning and leadership development for future challenges
- Strategic Leadership for the Future of Healthcare
- Succession planning and leadership pipeline development
- Navigating policy shifts and regulatory challenges
- Capstone Project: Designing a strategic leadership plan for a healthcare organisation
Teaching and structure
Over six weeks you will explore three modules. You will study each module over two weeks, dedicating approximately 10 to 12 hours on various activities including:
- watching live online lectures
- reading
- taking part in discussion forum activities
- completing formative assessments, such as self-reflection exercises and quizzes
- completing marked project assignments
There will also be weekly live sessions online with the module lead.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this programme, you'll be able to:
- Apply strategic leadership frameworks to healthcare leadership challenges
- Use AI tools for competitive market analysis and risk forecasting
- Hone your personal leadership skills through active learning and self-reflection
- Articulate communication skills for healthcare leadership and change
- Formulate Change Management plans that can be measured and actioned
Executive Education Alumni Network

On successful completion of our programme, you will gain access to our Executive Education alumni network. This exclusive group connects the GBSH Executive Education alumni to share insights, discuss industry trends and explore collaboration opportunities in healthcare.
Find out more information here.
Assessment, certificates and accreditation

The content of this programme has been certified by the CPD Certification Service as conforming to continuing professional development principles.
You'll receive a certificate of completion and CPD points awarded by The CPD Certification Service when you've completed all the marked assignments for each of the three modules. These include mandatory discussion forums, short written assignments and a final project.
You'll also be able to assess how you're doing throughout the programme by completing multiple choice quizzes and unmarked self-reflection exercises.
Entry requirements
We recommended you have a degree or interest in leadership and management.
Fees
Standard Fee: £1,800*
*20% discount eligibility:
- UCL Staff/Alumni
- NHS Staff
- Corporate multi-buy Fee 3+ places
NHS staff and UCL alumni and staff discount is subject to valid email address. Discount eligibility will be verified as part of application.
For corporate partnerships, or if you are interested in booking on behalf of your organisation or to discuss executive learning solutions for your organisation, please contact executiveeducation.gbsh@ucl.ac.uk
Programme and module leads

Professor Nora Ann Colton
Nora is Director of the UCL Global Business School for Health. She's a health and international development economist specialising in the Middle East. She speaks Arabic and publishes on issues relating to globalisation and health in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Nora has a wealth of experience in leadership and change management along with designing leadership training programmes across a number of sectors.

Dr Rashmi Mathew
Rashmi is a Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital, where she's a glaucoma specialist. Rashmi is a co-leader of two master’s degree programmes in advanced clinical practice at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology. She's Deputy Director for the Undergraduate Education Directorate at Moorfields, a department which oversees the training of 900 medical students a year. She's also an Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry.
How to apply
All applications need to be completed online
Your application will be sent to the Executive Education Team and you will receive an email within 48 hours (excluding weekends) and a link to pay. Payment to be made in full by credit card. Your place on the programme will be confirmed on receipt of payment. We will contact you with all the details pertaining to the programme, content, access and timetable 4 weeks prior to the start date.
For any queries, please contact executiveeducation.gbsh@ucl.ac.uk