Working together to make it happen

The delivery of the programme will balance national direction with local autonomy to secure the best outcomes for our people and patients. The improvement and transformation of the people profession will be supported by NHS-wide standards, which will be co-designed with people professionals and customers.

Systems and organisations are at different starting points and will want to phase changes to reflect local priorities. The national team will work with regional teams to support implementation in systems and organisations. The people profession will increasingly work across and as part of systems. NHS England and NHS Improvement will support the development of the integrated care system (ICS) people function and share learning and improvement.

This work will be conducted in partnership with trade unions to embed the actions at organisational, ICS, regional and national level.

The delivery of the programme will be overseen by the People Plan Delivery Board and regionally by regional people boards. We will set out priorities on an annual basis. Key actions at all levels will be incorporated in national planning guidance.

The full implementation of the recommendations in this report will support the delivery of the People Plan and embed the People Promise for all staff.

Alongside the above priorities for the national team, organisations and ICSs will wish to develop their response to this report. The immediate priorities for organisations and systems are set out below.

Action ICS and organisation priorities to March 2023
Supporting and developing the people profession

Actions 2 and 3
  • All trusts to ensure that they have appointed a director of human resources/chief people officer as a member of their board.
  • Develop professional development plans for their teams, optimising use of apprenticeship levy.
Leading improvement, change and innovation

Action 6
  • Review allocation and distribution of people function resources to ensure alignment with the People Plan, NHS Long Term Plan and local system priorities.
  • Create plans for system-level consolidated and simplified transactional people services.
Embedding digitally enabled solutions

Action 8
  • Optimise the adoption of current people digital solutions.
  • Create plans and commence action to align and harmonise digital strategies and solutions, across providers wherever possible, to enable more joined-up working.
Prioritising the health and wellbeing of all our people

Actions 13 and 15
  • Build health and wellbeing metrics into performance dashboards and consider them with the same scrutiny as operational and financial performance.
  • Review and baseline the current health and wellbeing offer, including identifying which areas to enhance or evolve.
Ensuring inclusion and belonging for all

Actions 17 and 18
  • Embed the overhauled recruitment processes to take account of equality, diversity and inclusion considerations.
  • Ensure that all individuals, teams and organisations have measurable objectives on equality, diversity and inclusion, including all board members.
Creating a great employee experience

Actions 21 and 24
  • Build employee experience metrics into performance dashboards.
  • Develop strategies to make health and care the first choice for local employment.
Harnessing the talents of all our people

Action 29
  • Proactively set the direction for talent management and start embedding the approach.
Enabling new ways of working and planning for the future

Action 31 and 35
  • Develop system workforce plans that align with local service and financial planning, Health Education England plans and the responsibilities set out in the guidance on the ICS people function.
  • Lead action to address local supply issues, using the benefit of scale wherever possible and innovative approaches that broaden access to roles for the local community.

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