Did you know?
- The Pioneer Programme has supported more than 150 Pioneers, over six cohorts from all 12 boroughs of South London.
Applications open for the South London Care Home Pioneer Programme Cohort 7 2025 – 2026
June 29, 2025The Health Innovation Network (HIN) South London and My Home Life England are delighted to announce that applications are now open for the South London Care Home Pioneer Programme Cohort 7.
This is a leadership development and quality improvement programme delivered free of charge to Care Home Managers, Deputies and Senior Nurses in south west London to advance their skills, facilitate personal growth and enable them to effectively manage the complex everyday issues that impact on the quality of their service.
The programme is aimed at staff working in the following settings: older people’s residential homes, older people’s nursing homes, learning disability and mental health care settings, and supported living settings, across the boroughs of Croydon, Kingston, Merton, Richmond, Sutton, and Wandsworth.
The 2025-2026 programme runs over an eight-month period (September 2025 to April 2026) with a celebration day in May 2026.
The programme offers support to care home managers to:
- Advance their leadership skills
- Design and deliver a quality improvement project
Pioneers are guided and supported by skilled coaches and facilitators to advance their leadership skills, learning from each other, and supporting each other to consider new ways to approach some of the complex issues which are part of the job.
The programme begins with four face-to-face workshops, followed by a series of six action learning sets, some delivered virtually and some face-to-face. ‘Action learning’ recognises that individuals learn best when they learn with and from each other, by working on real problems and drawing on their own experiences. The sessions are confidential to allow a safe space for the Pioneers to share their personal experiences.
Each Pioneer will design and deliver their own quality improvement project. The HIN will support Pioneers to focus their projects on areas identified for improvement in their most recent Care Quality Commission reviews. HIN staff will visit you at your care setting to provide project support, offering intensive one-to-one support, on-site guidance, observing progress, and helping you to embed quality improvement approaches in practice. Once completed, your quality improvement projects will be shared more widely to promote learning across the care home sector.
We are delighted to offer this programme free of charge to south west London care home leaders, generously funded by South West London Integrated Care Board (ICB) and through the Q Community’s Supporting Q Connections programme, by the Health Foundation.
Please note we will prioritise applicants whose care homes are rated by the Care Quality Commission as ‘inadequate’, ‘requires improvement’ or ‘good’.
To apply:
Your commitment:
- Being part of the programme involves commitment from you, your line manager and your care home to attend all workshops and action learning sets throughout the programme.
- Although offered free to your care home, your place costs £3,000 to funders, South West London ICB and the Health Foundation. Attendance of over 75% is required to complete the programme.
- Completed learning hours will be recorded and shared with you and your line manager.
- By submitting an application form, you are confirming you have booked out all relevant dates in your diary.
By the end of the programme, you will have:
- Completed up to 47.5 hours of workshops, action learning sets and site visits.
- Delivered a quality improvement project including a poster to describe your work.
- Received support from HIN staff on-site in your care home, to help with your quality improvement project.
This infographic highlights key feedback from Pioneers who took part in the programme from 2024 to 2025.
“Everything I have learned in this programme has changed me to be more supportive with residents and family members” Pioneer, Cohort 6, Care Home Pioneers
"I used to experience self-doubt, but through this programme, I began to believe in myself more. I’ve realised the importance of listening and asking questions to help me in making informed decisions."Pioneer, Cohort 6, Care Home Pioneers
You can find some great examples of Pioneer projects that have been carried out by clicking on the following here. Find out more about Cohort Six’s Celebration Day here.
We're here to help
Get in touch for more information about Cohort 6 of the Care Home Pioneers programme.
Get in touch
