Building Stronger Health and Care Leadership Together

My name is Claire Gardner and I am the Managing Director of Dynamic Training. I began my career as a learning disability nurse and subsequently trained as a paediatric nurse and Health Visitor. I then moved into education and worked at the University of West London. I had the idea to set up my own training company with a colleague and Dynamic Training was born.

I founded Dynamic Training in 2009 after working at a university, with a simple aim to help develop and support people working across the health and adult social care sectors through apprenticeships and training. 

These sectors have always been incredibly important to me. Over the years I’ve managed a children’s respite service supporting children with complex needs, led an adult residential service for people with learning disabilities, and worked within the community managing my own caseload as a Health Visitor. 

Throughout my career I’ve had the privilege of being alongside people and families during both joyful moments and incredibly challenging times. I’ve also had the opportunity to build and support teams who are dedicated to providing the very best care possible and for me, that’s where strong leadership really makes a difference.

I truly believe health and social care are some of the most rewarding sectors anyone can work in. You meet people from such diverse backgrounds, you learn so much from individuals with lived experience, and you develop skills that stay with you for life. Yes, it can sometimes be fast-paced and challenging, but it’s also meaningful work that really matters. 

It’s also a sector that offers genuine opportunities for people to start a career and grow. I’ve rarely seen another sector where progression and development can happen in quite the same way. 

That’s why I’m so pleased to be sharing our Integrated Health and Social Care Level 5 Leadership Programme. 

Bringing together managers from both the NHS and adult social care within the same leadership programme creates a fantastic opportunity to build a shared understanding of the wider health and care system. As services increasingly work together through partnership structures such as Integrated Care Systems, leaders need to be able to collaborate across organisations to support safe patient journeys, effective discharge planning, safeguarding and community-based care. 

Having a mixed cohort means managers can learn from each other’s experiences, challenges and different working environments. It helps strengthen relationships across the sectors and improves communication, something that ultimately benefits the people we all support.

Through the Leader in Adult Care Apprenticeship Standard, the programme develops the key leadership and management skills that managers need in today’s health and care environments. This includes how to develop and support teams, manage and resolve conflict, recruit and select the right people, and create positive workplace cultures where staff feel supported and valued. 

Alongside these core management skills, participants also explore person-centred leadership, quality improvement, safeguarding responsibilities and multidisciplinary working. Learning together helps managers see the whole pathway of care, leading to more joined up thinking and better outcomes for individuals and communities. 

Doesn’t that sound fabulous?

Like many in the sector, I was disappointed to see the defunding of the Level 5 Operations/Departmental Manager apprenticeship. However, I have always felt that the Level 5 Leader in Adult Care programme actually aligns much better with the needs of health and care services. We’ve previously supported apprentices from health settings to achieve this qualification successfully, so this feels like a great opportunity to strengthen the curriculum further and really focus on integrated care.

For me, great leadership in health and social care isn’t just about managing services it’s about supporting people, building confident teams, and creating environments where both staff and the people they care for can truly thrive.

If you’d like to find out more about the programme, please do join one of our webinars or get in touch with the team today.