Francis Martinez is a Nursing Workforce Programme Manager/Senior Project Manager at NHS England in London, and an alumnus of FNF’s Aspiring Digital Leaders programme. His story conveys both his personal journey and how this connects to the broader community. He draws inspiration and structure for his article from the Marshall Ganz ‘Public Narrative’ approach (which was included in the leadership programme), weaving together the story of Self, Us, and Now.
Nursing Leadership in a Digital World: Connecting People, Purpose, and Commitment to Improving Care
In March 2026, I joined the Florence Nightingale Foundation (FNF) Aspiring Digital Leaders Programme. By then, even after leading initiatives across clinical and system settings, I was still asking an important question:
“How can nurses help shape the future of healthcare in a digital world while keeping people at the centre?”
For me, the answer lies in the values nurses bring to leadership: a focus on people, a shared sense of purpose, and a commitment to improving care. These values guide both nursing and digital leadership. In a digital world, they shape how nurses lead and influence healthcare, ensuring care remains human‑centred as systems transform.
This understanding is shaped by my journey in nursing that began in the Philippines, where I trained and worked in a national teaching hospital. Nursing taught me resilience, teamwork, and awareness of how systems shape staff and patient experience.
"It gave me a clearer leadership identity, a stronger professional voice, and greater confidence to move from contributing to actively leading digital change. Learning alongside aspiring leaders and from experienced digital leaders made digital leadership feel real and something I could shape with intention."
Francis Martinez – Nursing Workforce Programme Manager/Senior Project Manager, NHS England
That awareness deepened when I moved to the UK as an internationally educated nurse. Starting again strengthened my commitment to support, inclusion, and opportunity for others. While completing my Nursing and Midwifery Council registration, I briefly worked as a care assistant before moving into social care nursing in Wales and later operating theatre nursing in London and Kent. Across these settings, I regularly encountered duplication and fragmented ways of working.
These experiences shaped not only how I cared for patients, but how I approach leadership, including my view of digital change as something that must support people, strengthen teams, and improve care.
I remember completing six separate forms for each service user and thinking: if we can simplify this, we can give time and attention back to patients, and confidence back to staff. Consolidating those forms into one form became the first tangible change I led, later adopted across several sites. This work was recognised through a nomination for the Wales Care Awards, where I was shortlisted, validating that improving ways of working is also a form of care.
I continued improving processes as I moved from clinical roles into corporate and project/programme management within NHS England. Across these roles, I saw how systems, not just individuals, shape staff experience and care delivery. This shifted my focus towards digital approaches, not as an end, but as tools to strengthen workforce capability, improve confidence, and support care at scale.
Across London, we have been laying practical foundations for a digitally enabled workforce. Our Capital Clinical Support Worker (CapitalCSW) team and London trusts co‑designed a widely accessible digital handbook and the Healthcare Support Worker Digital Passport. Together, these initiatives improve access to role information and provide a portable record of competencies, reducing duplication and supporting recognition as staff move across roles and organisations. We are also strengthening digital skills for frontline staff through collaborations with colleges and system partners.
Alongside this system‑level work, I have contributed to organisational, regional and nursing digital networks. My involvement also extends beyond my formal role into my community. As an NHS App Ambassador and through volunteer roles, I have supported initiatives that help people engage with digital services more confidently and inclusively. These experiences showed that digital leadership must prioritise access, confidence, and inclusion.
Across nursing, we are already improving systems and shaping care, often quietly without recognising it as leadership. I realised that I was part of this, and I needed to act. I chose to move beyond being an interested contributor to becoming a more intentional and confident digital leader.
Acting on this, I joined the FNF Aspiring Digital Leaders Programme. It gave me a clearer leadership identity, a stronger professional voice, and greater confidence to move from contributing to actively leading digital change. Learning alongside aspiring leaders and from experienced digital leaders made digital leadership feel real and something I could shape with intention.
Since then, I have applied my learning more intentionally on how I lead and contribute through digital conversations, working groups, and initiative projects in development. As the NHS shifts from analogue to digital, I actively use digital tools and explore approaches in collaboration platforms that connect stakeholders, share best practice, and co‑design scalable solutions.
As an FNF alumnus, I can continue this journey through ongoing learning, development opportunities, and a growing community of leaders shaping the future of healthcare.
Now matters. As healthcare becomes more digitally connected, the question is not whether transformation will happen, but how and who will lead it.
This is a moment of choice: to remain contributors to change, or to step forward and help shape it. Bring your insight into digital decisions, speak up for patients and staff, and step into leadership with confidence. Programmes like the FNF Aspiring Digital Leaders Programme can support this journey, but the most important step is choosing to use it.
As nurses, we are uniquely positioned to shape the future of digital healthcare, bringing leadership rooted in what nursing does best: connecting people, purpose, and a shared commitment to improving care.
