At Health Education and Improvement Wales , our responsibility is to support the development and career transition of the most senior leaders in NHS Wales. Primarily, our Chief Executives and Executive Directors.

We are also responsible for identifying and developing senior leaders, aspiring Chief Executives and aspiring Executive Directors, supporting system-wide succession planning for our nationally recognised thirteen Executive Portfolios.

NHS Wales Executive & Board Level Portfolios

The NHS Wales Succession Strategy (2017-27) (PDF, 6 pages, 140 KB) outlines a clear ambition to deliver a diverse pipeline of talent from within NHS Wales, at local and national levels.

The strategy outlines a systematic and planned strategic effort across NHS Wales to attract, retain, develop and motivate high-performing leaders who meet the short, medium and long-term needs of organisations.

We are committed to strengthening our equality, diversity and inclusion focus, improving accessibility and equity for our leadership offer - encouraging greater diversity in our senior leader and executive director pipelines.

This work includes:

• The introduction of inclusive and equitable application processes for aspiring executives and system leaders to identify themselves as potential future Executive and Board Directors.
• Introduction of national leadership programmes specifically for colleagues from Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic Groups.
• Improved collection of diversity data to gain further insight into the lived experiences of our aspiring leaders.
• Inclusive leadership learning incorporated into our Executive Development Suite – to enhance the existing skills of those working strategically, to tackle inequality and racism.

The role of the Culture, Leadership and Succession (CLS) Board is to maintain oversight, providing strategic direction and acting as an enabler for the achievement of key national strategies and plans which align with the remit of this Board.

The CLS Board and National Succession Strategy aim to achieve the following ambitions:

• Embed compassionate leadership principles across NHS Wales to develop cultures that support, inclusion, wellbeing and quality.
• Create diverse and multi professional pipelines of aspiring senior and executive level leaders.
• Work with local organisations to support talent and succession at all levels.
• Scale and spread compassionate and collective leadership opportunities for leaders at all levels across NHS Wales.
• Ensure equality, diversity and inclusion are embedded in all leadership development opportunities and processes.

Significant work has been progressed to establish an Executive Development Suite for our executive and senior leaders, including the establishment of executive talent pools that reflect our Executive Portfolios across NHS Wales.