5 ways NHS HR teams can unlock the power of culture change
Dr Nicholas Andreou,
Co-Founder
In the last couple of years, the NHS has recognised the need for a culture shift. Ever since the Covid-19 outbreak, healthcare professionals across the country have been leading with compassion and humility despite ongoing pressures to fight the virus. And now, as we prepare for the recovery phase, the NHS must continue to build upon this drive for a culture of growth, diversity and belonging.
The NHS People Plan details its commitment to inclusive and compassionate leadership. But it is our HR and OD teams who can begin to foster this change in culture.
Here, we look at five of the latest initiatives which can help NHS HR and OD professionals to nurture a healthy culture and turn the NHS into a modern and exemplar employer to our NHS people.
Five initiatives for NHS culture change
1. Big Conversation
Following the impact of 2020 and the launch of the NHS People Plan, ‘Big Conversation’ is a ground-breaking national programme that aims to empower a new, shared vision for the future of the people profession within our health service.
The crowdsourced conversation is the first in a generation for the NHS. 16,000 HR and OD leaders are invited to share their views on the NHS People practices, encompassing what is working and what needs to happen to meet the programme’s vision for 2030.
Led by Chief People Officer, Prerana Issar, the Big Conversation initiative offers a first-of-its-kind insight into the experiences of NHS teams and their learnings from the Covid-19 pandemic. Already, discussions have revealed the need to streamline processes and maintain a focus on employee wellbeing and inclusion.
By joining the conversation, HR and OD professionals can re-imagine how to work best together to improve patient care and lead the way for the future of the NHS.
Find out more and get involved at ournhspeopleprofession.org.
2. Inspire culture change today
NHS England is truly dedicated to supporting HR and OD teams to implement a culture of compassion and inclusion yet recognises that there is more to be done.
Evidence suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on communities including BAME colleagues, those with a disability or obesity, men and older people.
Therefore, action must be taken now to support these groups throughout the recovery phase and post-COVID, considering their health and wellbeing, positive staff role models and representation among senior management and board level.
Below are two initiatives that can be implemented immediately:
Support vulnerable staff with workforce assessments
HR and OD professionals are recommended to carry out risk assessments for vulnerable NHS staff to help identify those who need extra support during the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes BAME colleagues and anyone who may have increased vulnerability to infection or adverse outcomes.
Bereavement resources
Sadly, NHS staff are likely to experience a bereavement during the pandemic. Therefore, we must support those who have lost patients, family members or colleagues. NHS England has developed a bereavement resource that recognises diversity and enables line managers to better support NHS people through compassionate conversations and a deeper understanding of how colleagues may experience a bereavement.
3. The King’s Fund: Improving NHS Culture
The King’s Fund has developed a tool to address NHS culture and enable HR and OD professionals to make improvements across all organisations. Numerous resources, events and toolkits are accessible to all users to inspire a culture shift for better patient care.
The platform covers six characteristics of a healthy culture that must be addressed:
Inspiring vision and values - how to shape and communicate a forward-thinking vision through clear expectations and messaging
Goals and performance - clear, aligned goals and timely feedback processes based on patient care and outcomes
Support and compassion - fostering a supportive, positive environment by treating all employees with respect and care
Learning and innovation - continual opportunities for learning and improvement of patient care
Effective teamworking - encouraging multi-professional teams to work together for better communication and shared leadership
Collective leadership - inviting all employees to take responsibility for the success of the organisation with collaborative working
The tool looks to inspire HR and OD teams to become collaborative leaders and create culture change. This is supported by their online programme, Building Your Authority, which will enable participants to better their leadership abilities amidst the pressures of the pandemic.
4. Measuring compassionate and inclusive leadership
Inspiring compassionate and inclusive leadership within the NHS is a vital, welcomed improvement. However, equal focus must be shone on the measurement and strategic implementation of this plan.
The NHSEI states to publish a set of competency frameworks detailing the expectation of leadership behaviour. Yet we must recognise that compassion is not a simple tangible skill to be taught. Support, therefore, must be provided to current leaders who need to ‘step up’ to the new requirements, as well as teaching methods that appeal to each individuals’ personality.
We have found this NHS Confederation article raising the learning and measurement aspects of such skills very helpful to start reflecting and spark conversations within the NHS HR & OD community. As stated by the author, it is clear that we must also consider that inclusivity and good leadership have different definitions for different people. Leaders who have successfully worked in a certain way will have never been measured against compassion or diversity metrics. Therefore, whilst these targets must be achievable, they should also be meaningful rather than a static tick box.
5. Workforce empowerment solutions
Cutting-edge digital innovations are another way for HR and OD teams to begin implementing a compassionate and inclusive process for our NHS people. Comprehensive workforce empowerment solutions, such as Locum's Nest Rota - the e-rostering service creating inclusive, compassionate and flexible rotas with a focus on staff wellbeing, will help cultivate a more supportive culture for our NHS people and retain more staff. Offering flexible and fair rosters to our front-line clinicians is a step in the right direction in making the NHS the modern exemplar employer as set out in the NHS People Plan.
The Locum’s Nest Rota promise:
1. Empower staff with cutting-edge web and mobile apps which make great features, such as swapping shifts and requesting joint leave with friends and partners, intuitive and enjoyable.
2. Facilitate fairness by easily accommodating doctors’ preferences in advance. This came from the desire to foster equality amongst doctors by ensuring none would be dealt the short straw on their rotas. Ultimately, the ‘line’ attributed to a doctor in a roster should not be determined by where their name sits in the alphabet.
3. Allow organisations to stay compliant with a bespoke rules-based approach to working-time rules, contractual obligations and mandatory training requirements, in real-time.
4. Save valuable time for rota teams by automatically creating fully optimised rotas.
Developed by doctors with the support of the NHS’ leading innovation body, the NHS Innovation Accelerator, the Locum’s Nest suite of products aims to unlock the market’s potential for tech-led workforce management across the NHS. Our flagship product, Locum’s Nest Match, connects 30,000+ healthcare professionals to vacant work in nearly 40 NHS Trust and hundreds of GP practices, facilitating collaborative banks, saving the NHS millions of pounds while ensuring gold-standard quality of care for patients. Locum’s Nest is also an accredited supplier, available through NHS Procurement Frameworks including the Government Digital Marketplace.
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If you would like to know how Locum’s Nest can support your organisation, book a free demo or get in touch with Dr Ahmed Shahrabani on ahmed@locumsnest.co.uk.