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2½-hour live Zoom course, including Q&A
Understand how the NHS in England is organised, funded and governed, and how decisions about services, budgets and priorities are made. A practical live course designed to make complex NHS structures easier to navigate.
Check available dates in the calendar, then choose your session in the booking form below.
Two hours of teaching followed by a 30-minute Q&A. Choose a daytime or evening session on the dates available.
The NHS in Practice course runs on selected Mondays throughout the year. Browse the calendar to check dates and availability, then choose your session in the booking form below.
Choose your date and time from the dropdown and enter the participant's details. For two places, complete the booking separately for each participant and add both to your basket.
Leave better equipped to understand organisational priorities, follow approval routes and contribute to discussions about services, budgets and improvement proposals, without needing a specialist management or finance background.
Connect the wider NHS in England to your day-to-day work: who makes decisions, where funding comes from and how organisations are held to account. Whether you are proposing a new clinical pathway or making the case for additional resources, understand the financial and organisational questions you may face.
Course format: Two hours of live teaching followed by 30 minutes of questions and answers, giving you time to clarify key points and relate them to your own NHS experience.
The 10 Year Health Plan for England emphasises more care in the community, digital delivery and prevention, while integrated care boards are moving towards strategic commissioning. Understanding how NHS organisations are governed, funded and held accountable helps you interpret these changes and contribute to local decisions. The course focuses on these practical foundations, rather than relying on an organisational chart alone.
Explore eight connected subjects, grouped into four areas, to understand how the NHS in England operates and how this affects decisions within individual organisations.
The course is designed for NHS doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and other staff who want to better understand how decisions are made and how organisational priorities affect their work.
Understand the systems around your clinical work and take part more confidently in conversations about resources, quality, escalation and service priorities.
Strengthen your understanding of governance, approvals and budgets when developing services, negotiating priorities or leading improvement.
Understand how organisational decisions are made and how your team contributes to wider NHS planning and performance.
Develop a shared language for commissioning, finance, business cases and accountability when working across clinical and operational teams.
Accessible explanations, practical relevance and time to ask your questions, in a focused live session.
The course is delivered by NHS consultants with senior leadership responsibilities, including clinical leads and business service unit leads. They bring day-to-day experience of working within complex NHS systems.
Relate governance, funding and organisational priorities to service planning, approval routes, new initiatives and improvement proposals.
Two hours of focused live teaching are followed by a 30-minute Q&A, giving you time to clarify key points and relate them to your own NHS experience.
Choose from the scheduled 10am–12:30pm or 7pm–9:30pm sessions on selected Mondays. Each course runs live on Zoom and provides 4 CPD points following validated attendance.
“Excellent session. Kept it interactive and summarised the entire working of the NHS in just 2 hours - impressive! I now feel I understand the inner workings of the NHS much better. Thank you very much.”
“Very detailed and simply explained”
“Good course considering how dry the subject matter is. You made it very engaging!”
“Good course. I now understand much better how commissioning and finances work in the NHS.”
“Overall it was an EXCELLENT and CLEAR breakdown of NHS structures”
“Excellent course explaining the intricacies of the NHS in just the right level of detail. Thank you to Dr Phillips for demystifying all of this.”
The course is suitable for doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals who want a clearer understanding of NHS structures, finance and decision-making. You do not need previous management or financial training.
The course focuses on how the NHS operates in England. Many underlying principles may be transferable, but organisational structures and terminology differ across the four UK nations.
It is delivered live on Zoom, with two hours of teaching followed by 30 minutes of questions and answers (2½ hours in total). It is not a self-paced e-learning programme.
Each 2½-hour session includes two hours of teaching and a 30-minute Q&A. The course runs either from 10am to 12:30pm or from 7pm to 9:30pm (UK time). Check the calendar for availability, then select your date and time in the booking dropdown below it.
Your Zoom joining link will be sent two days before the course date.
Yes. Understanding how NHS services are organised and how decisions and budgets affect care can help you give more informed interview answers. If you also need to develop your interview technique, consider our Consultant Interview Course.
If your employer cannot book directly by credit card or procurement card, payment by invoice may be possible. Email enquiries@iscmedical.co.uk for details. Because invoicing can take several weeks, this option is best for dates more than six weeks away.
You may postpone once without charge if you give at least eight days’ notice before your course date. A second postponement or a change with less than eight days’ notice may incur charges. Please see the Terms and Conditions for the full policy.
The live NHS in Practice course provides 4 CPD points. Your certificate is sent after the trainer has validated your attendance, typically the following day.
The live course costs £120 per participant. You can save 10% by booking two places on this course, or by combining it with any other ISC Medical course. Add each place to the basket separately so you can enter the participant’s details. Check the discount in your basket before paying.
Get a clearer view of how NHS organisations are structured, funded and governed—and how that understanding can help in your day-to-day role.
Live on Zoom · 2 hours of teaching + 30-minute Q&A · 4 CPD points · £120
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