During my secondment to NHS Employers I acted as the national programme lead for the Agency Reduction Programme. The programme has been commissioned by the Department of Health to reduce expenditure by NHS trusts on agency staffing by £300m by the end of the 2013/14 financial year and forms a part of the DH’s wider QIPP programme. As Programme Lead I had responsible for proposing the direction of travel for the work area and from this identifying the activities that the programme needed to undertake in order to help Trusts deliver the saving. The proposals for direction of travel were based on assimilation of feedback from NHS Trusts, external partner organisations, synthesis of data and liaison with the Department of Health.As lead for the programme lead I frequently presented to a variety of audiences including HRD Forums, Finance and Procurement audiences, Department of Health meetings and external bodies such as Higher Education Institutions and representatives of recruitment agencies. I also produced detailed briefings for senior audiences as well as designing and developing a series of events to promote the agency programme. I directly line managed a team responsible for the programme and was required to influence well beyond the span of NHS Employers due to the multi organisational aspect of the project. I also sat on and chaired numerous groups including the national flexible workforce strategic forum.I was responsible for the development of the NHS Employers Workforce QIPP Community and am now responsible for its leadership. The community brings together senior leaders in the NHS with an interest in improving workforce productivity and has a strong interest in the wider workforce planning and how improving workforce planning, education and training can improve workforce productivity.I was responsible for developing the budget for the programme and so far agency expenditure across the NHS has reduced significantly.

In my role as Senior Programme Manager for NHS North West I undertook numerous pieces of work surrounding workforce and specifically around workforce change. In particular the development and management of the eWIN Portal, the creation of a workforce planning framework for Health Visiting services, and the programme management of the regions Workforce QIPP Workstream.The eWIN portal is a web based tool developed to aid NHS organisations in the North West (and subsequently in 4 other SHA areas), improve their workforce productivity. My role in the development and launch of the portal included:• Acting as programme manager for the development and launch of the portal, co-ordinating the development of all aspects of the project.• Liaising with Human Resources Directors from across the North West to assess their requirements from the site, and then using this information to develop a specification.• Assembling a project team from within the organisation to deliver the brief.• Designing and conducting a trial with a number of selected pilot organisations.• Managing the ongoing development of the portal post launch, including all quantitative data was accurate and commissioning qualitative data to aid trusts in improving their workforce productivity.• Reporting to the Project Advisory Group on progress and risks linked to the portal.I led on the development of a workforce plan for the Health Visiting service across four Primary Care Trusts in North and Central Lancashire. This required me to work closely with colleagues from across the relevant PCT’s and regularly produce risk and status reports to stakeholder groups. I was also responsible for the delivery of the workforce workstream of the North West’s QIPP programme. This consisted of co-ordinating a number of activities being undertaken within footprint areas and liaising with the Chief Executives and HR Directors responsible for these areas as well as the DH to monitor progress against plan.

Whilst working as a Programme Manager for NHS North West I undertook various pieces of project work surrounding workforce and performance. These, amongst others included creating a report on the Cumbria Healthcare workforce and starting a programme aimed at scoping and developing the use of the Enhanced Recovery system within the North West health economy. However, two pieces of work were particularly prominent during my time in this position:Assessing the Workforce of Clinical Pathway GroupsThe intention of this project was to scope the workforce of two of the reformed Clinical Pathway Groups (in my case Urgent Care and Long Term Conditions) and to make recommendations as to how the CPG’s could best be supported moving forwards. This programme required me to process and manipulate large quantities of data, as well as working closely with colleagues both within NHS North West and the wider health community in order to produce a report that accurately reflects the priorities of groups.eWIN I was heavily involved in the early development of the eWIN portal, responsible for the development of a Programme Plan, members agreement and PID, as well as developing a number of paper based models aimed at developing the portals specification through detailed data manipulation.

Whilst working at NHS North Yorkshire and York I gained experience of working in operational HR within a fast paced and highly unionised environment as well as working on numerous HR projects and assisting with the implementation of national workforce initiatives.During my time with the PCT I had HR responsibility for the commissioning and children’s nursing departments which allowed me to consolidate my operational HR knowledge. As a part of my operational role I:• Had HR responsibility for a number of large scale organisational change programmes, such as modernisation of the commissioning team based upon the recommendations received from the PCT’s ‘World Class Commissioning’ assessment.• Led on a number of TUPE transfers resulting from the Transforming Community Services programme.• Led on a substantial caseload of disciplinary, grievance and bullying and harassment investigations.• Led on a wide range of absence management cases, involving short and long terms absence, terminations of employment and frequent use of Occupational Health.• Developed and produced the PCT’s policy on working time.• Assisted with the trust’s disability and gender equality schemes.• Advised and supported managers and employees on all aspects of terms and conditions of employment.I was also involved in a number of projects and strategic workstreams whilst working for the PCT, including:• Writing papers proposing rates of pay for on-call locum consultants in public health.• Contributing to the PCT’s readiness assessment for an Influenza pandemic.• Liaising with NHS organisations to assess the PCT’s ability to Achieve the 18 week target.• Operating as a locality HR lead for the implementation of the Electronic Staff Record.

During my time at Northumbria Healthcare I had HR responsibility for the Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Theatre departments, and as a result I:• Had responsibility for a number of large scale organisational change projects, such as the restructuring of the Theatre’s and Telecommunications teams.• Led on a substantial caseload of disciplinary, grievance and bullying and harassment investigations.• Led on a wide range of absence management cases, involving short and long terms absence, terminations of employment and frequent use of Occupational Health.• Developed and produced the PCT’s policy on flexible working.• Assisted with the trust’s disability and gender equality schemes.• Advised and supported managers and employees on all aspects of terms and conditions of employment.

The NHS HR Management Training Scheme is a national programme comprising of two six month placements, one eight month placement and a two month elective assignment to be undertaken outside of the NHS. It also incorporates a Pg Dip in HRM (including CIPD membership exams).