Good leaders create working climates where staff feel engaged and satisfied. They must work even harder to achieve this in times of major change, so developing outstanding leadership in within the NHS has never been more important than now.

The NHS Leadership Academy was launched in April 2012 as a centre of leadership excellence for everyone working in the NHS, or providing care funded by the NHS.

A central tenet of the academy is that the NHS is built on the passion and commitment of all its staff. The story of leadership success is the story of the NHS’s staff - staff who feel engaged and satisfied have a direct, positive impact on patients’ experiences of the NHS and their health outcomes.

The academy focuses on developing outstanding leadership to improve the quality of services and outcomes for patients by

• promoting NHS leadership values
• raising the profile of leadership and set national standards
• designing, delivering and commissioning national leadership interventions
• providing expert support for local leadership development
• being an international beacon of best practice.

The academy will further develop the work of the former National Leadership Council, NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement, SHAs and PCTs. The foundations for this will include the NHS Leadership Framework, providing a single view of leadership behaviour throughout the NHS to underpin development, irrespective of discipline, role or function.

Other familiar offers include the Board Development Tool, Top Leaders programme, Graduate Management Training Programme, Breaking Through and Clinical Fellows.

The academy will run the prestigious NHS Leadership Awards, which recognise and celebrate outstanding leadership at every level of the service and are now in their third year.

It will also be:

• hosting national and international conferences
• contributing to leadership debate in business and academia
• running seminars to discuss leadership practice
• carrying out academic research
• promoting inclusion and diversity
• producing a talent management guide
• further developing local and regional networks for leaders
• developing nurse leadership
• commissioning new programmes, products and frameworks in response to changing NHS needs
• designing a suite of academically accredited programmes
• promoting the ‘professionalisation’ of leadership in health, recognising the vital contribution good leadership makes to improving health outcomes.