Learn and grow together with the Mary Seacole Local programme
Josh Reinke is an Integrated Contact Centre Area Dispatch Lead at North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust(NWAS). Keen to drive change and explore leadership approaches in the NHS, Josh completed the Mary Seacole Local programme, a regionally commissioned leadership initiative by the NHS North West Leadership Academy. This case study explores Josh’s experience of the programme and its impact both personally and professionally.
Why the Mary Seacole Local programme?
Josh joined NWAS as an emergency services call handler 2 and a half years ago. Initially aspiring to train as an emergency medical technician, Josh found a wealth of development opportunities within the control room which inspired him to further explore leadership and management skills in the NHS. With project management experience in the private sector, Josh wanted to adapt those skills and understand different leadership approaches to further his NHS career. Hearing from colleagues about the benefits of Mary Seacole Local, Josh decided to join the programme, valuing the commitment required as likely to mean real impact.
Starting out on the programme, Josh saw that a lot of experience in his cohort was in managing people and teams, compared to his own more project focussed management experience. Josh found the mutual benefit of bringing different perspectives, reflecting:
“It was nice to have that different approach…I admired that there wasn’t a limitation on what leading or management looks like, which gave an element where we were all included. We all had a voice.”
Creating connections and shared learning
In describing the programme facilitation, Josh prefers to call it a support network:
“I wouldn’t use the word teach. I feel like it was a ‘learn and grow together’ programme. I love the way that facilitators always included everyone. It was ‘What’s your thoughts, your feelings?’ It was very informal.”
“[The learning was] very easy to manage and what I like is that the majority of the course was in your own time in terms of the content, the training, it gives you that freedom.”
“In terms of the actual sessions, it was nice that when you did join, it was a massive sort of catch up. It was an opportunity for me where I shared my LinkedIn in the chat, and you keep those connections and insights with different people and how they work.”
The programme cohorts bring together NHS colleagues from across the North West, working in clinical and non-clinical roles at different levels. Josh appreciated the shared learning.
“It was nice to gain a variety of experience, but it wasn’t that someone’s opinion was out validated by someone else’s experience, ‘I think this and you’re wrong’. It was very much ‘Oh, I never thought of it that way. And this is how I would do things. But I like that idea or I’m going to do that.’”
“A personal highlight for me, when I missed one particular facilitated session, I joined another cohort to make it up and really enjoyed and benefited from that time with a different group. For me it was nice to be involved in something outside of the area, make some connections that way, and look at what’s happening in the bigger picture elsewhere.”
What is Mary Seacole Local?
Mary Seacole Local is a blended delivery programme designed for those in their first formal leadership role. It empowers people to turn their individual success into team success, and to champion compassionate patient care. Host organisations across the North West have created a community of facilitators who will deliver the programme, bringing their knowledge of local health and care systems to further enhance learning.
Find out moreImpact and opportunities
Programme modules covering leadership fundamentals, HR, and finance, helped Josh to realise what key areas he wanted to gain more experience in, such as having difficult conversations. Josh has since become a UNISON representative at NWAS to gain exposure to HR processes and challenges.
Valuable 360o feedback prompted self-reflection on leadership styles and Josh’s impact as a colleague.
“It pushed me to see things differently. A big thing that I noticed that we’ve been lacking on is recognition. Even as someone who’s not been in a role where my job is necessarily to give praise or recognition, I felt it was important to do that. So, I started what I called a daily dose of kindness, sending out a daily e-mail to someone in NWAS, whether I’ve worked with them regularly or one off. I did that as a daily thing, just sent an e-mail of thanks for what you do, it is making a difference. And the feedback from that has gone on to be a contagious thing, with other people then picking up on that and doing it as well.”
Following completion of the programme, Josh has found the skills and understanding gained has opened up opportunities outside of his day-to-day role, especially in project work focussed on public health and health inequalities across the region. Stepping up to meetings with NWAS’ Board of Directors, for example, and having those ‘big conversations’ has had an impact on both Josh and his team, presenting their insights and experience from the front line of the organisation.
Additionally, Josh has taken up a voluntary position as a fundraising manager for the Wirral community first responders, and chairing a committee for North West Air Ambulance Charity.
“Sometimes it is best to go to the front line to someone who lives and does the job on a day-to-day basis. Who knows what it’s like. And for me, that’s where experience and knowledge with the programme has developed, because it’s not necessarily that you have to be in a leadership position…it reflects in sort of all areas of your life, whether it is work or whether it is personal.”
Developing yourself
Mary Seacole Local has provided a vital foundation for Josh to take up a place on NWAS’ own Developing Leaders Programme, a 12-month programme newly launched in 2025.
“The Mary Seacole programme was, for me, big evidence of experience and wealth of knowledge coming into the programme. It felt like a natural transition in terms of how wide the NHS works; how we do things as a healthcare service then tailoring it to how we do it as an ambulance service.”
An advocate for continuing professional development, regardless of role, Josh would “100% recommend” the Mary Seacole Local programme to new and aspiring leaders. Recently taking up his current role as Area Dispatch Lead, Josh credits the programme as a contributor to his successful promotion.
“It’s something that I found very beneficial. This is an actual commitment to seeing change, to developing yourself, and how that has an impact on what you’re going to do next.”
Find out more about the Mary Seacole Local programme here.