Training Future NHS leaders gain insights into digital transformation
Imperial’s Digital Health Summer School gave NHS Graduate Management Training Scheme (GMTS) participants a unique opportunity to explore how data, innovation and leadership can drive transformation across the NHS.
The summer school in the first week of July was attended by NHS GMTS policy and strategy stream students, whom are also studying for a Diploma in Health Policy as part of the Imperial College London’s Health Policy MSc and hosted by the Institute of Global Health Innovation, which is a multidisciplinary centre that facilitates innovative technologies, data-driven solutions, and health system reforms to address global healthcare challenges.
The three-day programme brought together Imperial experts, clinicians, industry leaders and graduate trainees at the iCARE Digital Collaboration Space, a NIHR Imperial BRC-supported facility. Designed around the theme “NHS Transformation: Insights into a Digitally Enabled, Data-Driven Future”, the summer school featured hands-on learning with partners from the Paddington Life Sciences cluster.
All companies featured in the programme, including IQVIA, Optum, Microsoft and Snowflake, are integral to the Paddington Life Sciences ecosystem. Centred around St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington Life Sciences is a growing cluster of health research and data businesses partnering with local communities and stakeholders to support innovation and improve health outcomes across North West London and beyond.
Delivered in collaboration with iCARE, a multidisciplinary research team and secure data environment hosting health data for millions of patients and citizens, the programme combined academic insight with industry expertise. The summer school opened with keynotes from iCARE researchers James Beveridge and Guillaume Rousson, setting the stage for exploring real-world healthcare challenges.
Teaching NHS leadership
Consultant paediatrician and Director of Strategy, Research & Innovation at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, Dr Bob Klaber, emphasised the importance of leadership in transforming care. Speaking on inequality in North West London, where life expectancy for men varies by 18 years within a one-mile radius, Klaber urged trainees to think beyond traditional strategy.
“Developing a strategy is about choices and prioritising, but also about creating an environment that enables change,” Klaber said. He emphasised the importance of trust and relationships over purely technocratic approaches. “Things get done through relationship-building. Pay attention to your leadership journey. Often, egos or self-esteem hinder big changes.”
At Optum, Director Rebecca Richmond gave trainees practical tools for implementing strategy. “Policy is like building a ship while sailing it,” she said. “Agility is where data and analytics come in, allowing teams to pivot quickly when needed.” Richmond introduced the “Jones Family” tool, a fictional household used to model the impact of local policies and avoid unintended consequences.
Optum Director Kris Stone encouraged trainees to design policies around patient personas, helping them consider how real people experience changes in healthcare.
Industry site visits
The GMTS cohort visited IQVIA, where Paul Berg, Vice President of Real World Evidence & Commercial Solutions, presented on the power of data and analytics to enable learning health systems, using obesity as a public health case study in understanding prevention and the social determinants of health.
Shalini Jain, a GMTS trainee and resident doctor by background, reflected on her experience: “It was incredible to see what is happening outside the NHS. Visiting Microsoft and IQVIA showed me how industry and healthcare can collaborate to improve patient outcomes.”
At Microsoft, Jain was struck by creative uses of AI, such as turning complex medication instructions into child-friendly stories, as demonstrated by the Chief Clinical Information Officer at Microsoft, Umang Patel. “It made me realise the potential of technology to support care in ways I had not imagined before.”
The week concluded with a site visit to Snowflake, where students explored modern data platforms and tried coding for the first time. “Having worked on wards with paper notes, I have seen how unstructured NHS data can be,” Jain added. “Learning about cloud platforms showed me how organising data effectively could make life easier for staff and patients.”
Erik Mayer, Director of iCARE, Clinical Associate Professor at Imperial and NIHR Imperial BRC Digital Health Theme Co-lead, spoke about using data and AI to shift the NHS from reactive firefighting to proactive care. “We know 20% of patients account for 80% of NHS spending. To sustain services, we must keep people with disease well and prevent complications,” he said. Mayer stressed the need for leaders to understand AI as a toolkit of diverse technologies: “The key is matching the right tool to the right use case.”
The programme ended with a call to action for trainees to sustain momentum and build peer networks to support their leadership journeys. “This cohort has shown real ambition and curiosity,” Mayer said. “The challenge now is to become the leaders who will drive digital transformation across the NHS.”
