ICS Leadership Programme
Effective leadership is a cornerstone of positive staff experience and wellbeing.
If you’re ready to strengthen your leadership capability, we invite you to explore our Leadership Programme.
Designed for intensive care professionals, our Leadership Programme helps you build the skills, confidence and strategic perspective needed to lead effectively in the ICU. Applications for the 2027 programme will open in autumn.
You can now register your interest for future ICS Leadership Programmes.
leap@ics.ac.uk
Why attend our Leadership Programme
This is a multiprofessional leadership programme with intensive care and similar environments in mind. This programme has been designed specifically for the needs of busy NHS professionals with leadership roles in high impact high consequence clinical areas such as intensive care.
We encourage all professions to apply.
Our leadership programme includes:
9 days of teaching, including modules on
Authentic leadership
Emotional intelligence
Complexity of people and systems under pressure
Managing programme of work
Understanding NHS finance
The voice of intensive care within the wider system
Alongside the teaching, you will also be given:
a State of the Art Congress ticket
a 360-degree leadership assessment
1:1 leadership coaching sessions
an Intensive Care Society accredited certificate on completion of the course
The course benefits from modules led by lecturers from a leading business school in the UK who have a research base in health leadership.
A thoroughly enjoyable and useful experience, learning that I could apply to my day to day job and has shaped the way I think about things and approach different tasks.
I think my newly developed skills will help me to develop more opportunities for my team and also to be more successful in developing our service by integrating into and influencing key decision makers.
Who is eligible
We welcome applications from senior intensive care professionals with a range of diverse personal and professional experience and backgrounds to apply.
We have worked with our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Working Group to ensure that we have built a programme that provides equal opportunities for all those who are working in intensive care.
Our application shortlisting process is conducted blind to ensure there is no bias in our decision making.
We also understand that for some of our community, having access and funding to such courses can be limited if not unobtainable. Such issues were further highlighted in our recent Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Report – Towards an Inclusive Future .
Recognising these barriers, we are offering opportunities for individuals who fall into this category to access a fully funded place.
A Leadership Programme alumni who was able to access the course via a fully funded course describes their experience below:
How does one prepare for a leadership role and work on honing the necessary skills, when you don't feel like you may not quite fit the "expected" profile? As an ethnic minority woman with caring responsibilities and being an introvert, I know I can be a good leader but was unsure how to get there. The ICS Leadership Programme provided me with new perspectives, role models, tools, reading materials, and a group of like-minded individuals who came from various parts of intensive care medicine. This course would not have been accessible to me without the funded places, and I would encourage those who face financial barriers to apply. The programme provides an authentic journey and growth because it spans over many months, and I really appreciated the consolidation over time and the opportunities to put what we learnt to practice.
Programme Cost
ICS members: £3,100
We encourage delegates to scope our funding options from their employer including accessing hospital charity funds, if unable to self fund before submitting an application.
We have drafted a letter of support to help with these conversations.
This has not only helped shape my role as a leader, but it has given me a significant amount of skills that I hope to keep improving on throughout my leadership journey. I have enjoyed what I have learnt, and this support has been paramount in my learning.
Key dates
Applications open: TBA
Applications Deadline: TBA
March-November 2027: duration of the programme - In-person and virtual learning.
29 June - 1 July 2027 - SOA27 Congress in Birmingham.
Contact us
If you have any questions about the leadership programme or application, please contact us at leap@ics.ac.uk .
