The ‘People Plan’ will help the NHS ‘become a better place to work’, improve leadership culture, and boost recruitment in key roles.
Following the appointment of a Chief People Officer earlier this year, Professor Em Wilkinson-Brice has been appointed as Deputy Chief People Officer in a bid to make the health service the ‘best place to work’.
The new position will play a leading role in supporting delivery of the NHS Long Term Plan, by developing and implementing the NHS’ People Plan due to be published towards the end of the year, which will help the NHS ‘become a better place to work’, improve leadership culture, and boost recruitment in key roles.
The interim People Plan, published in May, set out several actions services across the NHS can implement quickly to start making an immediate impact. These include; expanding the NHS’ retention scheme to all NHS trusts and into general practice, ensuring adequate representation of BME staff, and moving towards a healthy, inclusive and compassionate culture.
Building a team.
Prerana Issar, Chief People Officer for NHS England and NHS Improvement said: “I am absolutely delighted that Em is going to be joining us. To make the NHS People Plan a success, we will need to translate our work into a set of actions that make sense to NHS organisations, and support them to make change locally. I want to build a team that brings in experience from the front-line NHS so that we can get this right.
“Em’s extensive leadership and clinical experience will be vital in helping the NHS deliver on the People Plan, and the NHS Long Term Plan, to provide a world-class service to patients.”
Shaping a new approach.
Professor Wilkinson-Brice, said: “This is a really exciting time to be joining NHSE/I to work with Prerana to ensure that we have a workforce with the right values, behaviours and skills to deliver the best care possible for patients.
“The NHS is at its heart a people organisation – whether that is the people who need care or those delivering it – and I am delighted to be involved in a way that can help shape a new approach that makes the NHS a more inclusive and engaging place to work and that allows people to fulfil their potential to deliver compassionate care.”