Senior doctors in primary care are to be encouraged to take part in a new range of leadership development programmes.

Some £2 million has been allocated to support programmes across 23 areas of England, NHS England announced yesterday.

Rather than using national leadership programmes, NHS England says it believes there is strong evidence of local areas successfully “equipping” key individuals with skills they need.

It points to Greater Manchester, the Surrey Heartlands Academy programme and Frimley Health and Care 2020 as examples of successfully leadership.

It says networks of leadership development should find people who can inspire others, solve problems and share their findings with peers. They also need to be able to collaborate with other health, social care and third sector organisations.

NHS England director of primary care Dom Hardy said: “We want to nurture the next generation of NHS leaders by more systematically identifying, developing and supporting those with the capability and ambition to reach the most senior levels of the service.

“The leadership development programmes are about getting people, from different parts of the health system, to work together and inspire the system-wide workforce to solve problems together as a team.

“We are seeing an enormous appetite across Integrated Care Systems and Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships to support staff at all levels with leadership and change capability and we are looking forward to building on this – and spreading the good practice as we move forward in delivery of the Long Term Plan ambitions.”