People Promise Manager

Background

The Long Term Workforce Plan for the NHS was published in June 2023 and sets out retention as a key pillar of our workforce strategy over the medium and long term. Practical actions to improve staff experience and retention are set out across all areas of the People Promise.

In January 2019, the NHS published its Long-Term Plan (LTP) which sets out an ambitious 10-year vision for healthcare in England. The plan is clear in setting out a new service model in which more action is taken on prevention and health inequalities, where we improve quality of care and health outcomes across all major health conditions, where the NHS harnesses technology to transform services, and where we get the most out of taxpayers’ investment.

Alongside the LTP the NHS has published We are the NHS: People Plan 2020/21– action for us all, along with Our People Promise. This sets out what our NHS people can expect from their leaders and from each other. It focuses on how we must all continue to look after each other and foster a culture of inclusion and belonging, as well as take action to grow our workforce, train our people, and work together differently to deliver patient care.

Delivery of the objectives set out within the People Plan will be fulfilled under the leadership of the NHS England Chief Workforce, Training and Education Officer within the Workforce, Training and Education Directorate and the retention objectives will be achieved through the National Retention Programme working in collaboration with regions, ICSs, and individual organisations.

This role offers a very real and exciting opportunity to play a vital role in the delivery of this plan and specifically the adoption of the NHS People Promise in every NHS organisation across England - representing over 1.3M people.

This role will be hosted by Lancashire & South Cumbria (LSC) Integrated Care Board however it will operate across the 3 Integrated Care Boards (ICB) across the North-west, these being: LSC, Cheshire and Merseyside and Greater Manchester.  The post holder will report into the LSC ICS Retention SRO with accountability to the NHS England Regional Retention Manager and ultimately the NHS England National Retention Programme.

All retention teams will work very closely together across national, regional, and local systems with a single focus to embed and live the values within the People Plan specifically enhancing the experience of all staff within the NHS and delivering on all aspects of the NHS People Promise to deliver the best outcomes for our staff and patients.

Duties

As a People Promise Manager, the post holder will be responsible for coordinating and embedding all elements of the NHS People Promise within the organisation. They will work collaboratively across the organisation and ICS (Integrated Care Systems) and with other designated People Promise Managers to maximise opportunities to retain staff across the NHS and Social Care.

They will also have colleagues doing the same role in other organisations regionally and nationally to relate to and to offer and receive support.

As well as being embedded into the organisation’s structure, the post holder will operate on a matrix basis, managed by the ICS Retention SRO, and build strong relationships with the Regional Retention Manager and colleagues in the National Retention Programme as required. It will be essential to pass vital information from their organisation to inform retention policy and changes in practice, as necessary.

Key areas of responsibility for the role include:

•            Develop a robust project plan to ensure the co-ordination and embedding all aspects of the NHS People Promise into the organisation by working closely with colleagues to identify all NHS People Promise activity and interventions already taking place within the organisation. A robust tool will be provided to assist the post holder in identifying any gaps in People Promise delivery.

•            Work closely with colleagues within the organisation, ICS and regionally to identify suitable actions and interventions to fill any gaps in delivery of People Promise areas

•            Develop and monitor progress towards robust metrics (qualitative and quantitative) to ensure delivery of all aspects of NHS People Promise interventions. 

•            Report on progress towards the identified project plan and metrics to the ICS Retention SRO and Regional Retention Manager as per required reporting timescales.

•            Collaborate with colleagues in relevant organisations, across the ICS, regionally and  nationally to ensure feedback, insight and evidence gained is used to improve staff  experience, retention of all staff and embedding of all elements of the NHS People    Promise. This includes but is not limited to the use of existing resources and good practice already available.

•            Work closely with other designated People Promise Managers to share learning and assist each post holder where possible to embed all aspects of the NHS People Promise into their organisations.

•            Using every opportunity available to promote and champion how the organisation will approach and embed NHS People Promise interventions to retain the workforce

•            Share learning from others where retention has improved for all staff groups both across  organisations within the ICS as well as across the region as appropriate.

Accountabilities

The post holder will be accountable for the following:

Improving quality and outcomes

•         Develop a robust project plan to co-ordinate and manage the embedding of all aspects of the NHS People Promise into the organisation thereby improving staff experience to reduce the numbers of all staff leaving the NHS

Enabling patient, public and staff involvement

•         Ensuring our people have a voice is one of the key themes within the People Promise - it is essential that the post holder engages others, seeks feedback, and offers all people and groups the opportunity to be involved and feel valued.

Promoting equality and reducing inequalities

•        Proactively engaging the equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) subject matter expert to ensure all aspects of EDI are responded to in any People Promise activities.

•        All People Promise activities must be routinely reviewed to ensure they are inclusive, accessible and that diversity is valued throughout.

•        Ensuring relevant research, evidence, and examples of positive practice in this area are shared widely, fully understood, and applied.

 Partnership and cross boundary working

•         Adoption of sophisticated matrix working across the organisation, the ICS, regionally and nationally to develop and sustain cohesive, productive, and sustainable  relationships.

Leadership for transformational change

•         Modelling and influencing positive transformation - negotiating with others to achieve the best outcomes for all our people

•         Working collaboratively in a friendly compassionate manner as an ambassador for the NHS

•         Acting as an enabler for team cohesion - sharing thoughts and ideas that contribute to sense of belonging and of ‘team’

•        Behaving and modelling the values set out in the NHS People Plan, Long Term Workforce Plan and NHS People Promise and proactively engaging others in these behaviours

•         Use insight and evidence for improvement and every opportunity to maximise learning and actions. Where there is a lack of evidence seek to support its development

 •          Adopting and promoting improvement methodology at all times