Reflecting on NHSP22: building resilience through collaboration and inclusivity

I recently attended the NHS Providers Annual Conference in November 2022, which also happened to be one of the first big F2F events since the beginning of the pandemic. You could definitely feel the energy as old colleagues reunited in 3D glory for the first time in a long time and with that came a renewed drive and passion for collaboration, learning, and connecting.

The theme of this year’s conference was ‘resilience’. Reflecting on this, I always thought of resilience as a double edged sword: Resilience is powerful and instrumental to overcoming challenges and at the same time, things do snap when asked too much of them, the same is true for pretty much anything, people, equipment, estates, etc. The conference was a chance to listen to colleagues and experts within the health and social space, all who approached ‘resilient’ differently, which then allowed me to see it through various multi-layered lenses. This sentiment was also confirmed by Saffron Cordery, interim Chief Executive of NHS Providers, who reiterated the conviction that we are working together to build resilient systems and embed resilience in our ways of working, improving our health and social care system so it can shift and adapt more easily to the changing demands of our societies and communities. It’s not about asking too much of our people but a way of working, in continuing to be curious, engaging with different perspectives, and scrutinising past and current practices on the basis of effectiveness. 

Two key themes emerging from conference discussions and sessions:

1/ Collaboration not competition & sharing of best practices

Collaboration not competition was a phrase uttered by many attendees in conversations and sessions. This particularly resonated with me because it’s part of our ethos at Locum’s Nest and is at the forefront of our minds whenever we embark on a new partnership and engage with fellow peers in the health and social care space, especially when it comes to forming, maintaining, and developing collaborative staff banks. The latter are a prime example, not only of how we can build resilient workforce systems but also in shifting perspectives: The idea of multiple Trusts merging their workforce to create a larger and growing staff pool was seen as a risk. This view has shifted and collaborative banks have been embraced as means to respond to the growing challenges that our health and care system is facing, while also enabling flexibility of healthcare professionals and empowering them. 

We can’t talk about collaboration without the sharing of best practices. Our health and social care system employs some of the most amazing minds, which means we don’t need to reinvent the wheel constantly, as a lot of people are already doing great work and resolving challenges that exist in different parts of the country. Therefore, in many instances, it’s a matter of creating and sharing flexible frameworks and ways of working that can help support  and inspire other teams and organisations. We know that there’s no one solution that fits all; therefore, it’s about empowering the workforce with the right tools and headspace to plan for and overcome challenges, while crowdsourcing intelligent thinking to help enable that. This was further illustrated by the Providers Deliver: Trust in Systems report which was released during the conference, highlighting the work of NHS Trusts and Foundation Trusts who are actively leading on improvement and innovation workstreams to enhance quality of care and service delivery for patients. 

Also on the theme of sharing best practices, Dr. Ahmed Shahrabani, one of our Co-Founders, led a panel session during the conference with NHS peers, Natalie Nightingale, Head of Temporary Staffing and North Central London ICS Lead at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Lee Gutcher, Programme Manager at North Central London, who are spearheading the new North Central London Medical Collaborative Bank. During the discussion, they reflected on their experience on setting up a collaborative bank, including the challenges involved and solutions that are enabling the organisations to overcome them. 

2/ Elevating all NHS voices: Inclusivity & the importance of embracing different perspectives and ways of working

The conference saw the 2022 NHS Staff Survey (NSS) in its closing weeks and from observations and discussions on the day, we’ve seen a real push across most NHS partners, who have been running campaigns and initiatives to encourage staff to share their feedback and experiences. Instrumental to the success of this are leaders making a real commitment to the longer journey, which comes post-survey, in relation to assessing feedback, understanding it, and putting in place the right mechanisms to take action to address issues and concerns and ensure frameworks to measure the effectiveness of any actions and changes too. 

Also, in relation to the topic of workforce and inclusion, the team and I had interesting conversations around a welcome change in 2022 which saw the extension of the NSS to also include Bank only workers. Although this year, it is limited to around 200,000 workers, it's definitely a start to further understanding a big part of the NHS workforce who provide invaluable support to patient care and service delivery. Therefore, it is great to finally see them be recognised and getting a proper platform to voice their specific needs and challenges. We had the pleasure of delving into this topic with Dan Collard, Programme Manager at The Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) Team, and other members of the WRES team, whose passion for elevating all NHS voices and creating a safe environment for sharing feedback and ideas is infectious and will get you excited about what possibilities the future holds.  We look forward to seeing NSS encompass every single member of the NHS workforce in the future.

At a time when we see the NHS slowly shifting views on providing further flexible working conditions to its staff, this enhanced level of open and inclusive communication lines will continue to be embraced and will remain a cornerstone of what makes all healthcare professionals feel valued regardless of the number and regularity of shifts they take for whatever personal reason they choose. Navina Evans, Chief Executive of Health Education England, touched on this subject in her keynote speech, where she discussed the need to invest now in the workforce of tomorrow and embrace different ways of working, including greater flexibility within the NHS, asking questions not only about how many people we need but also what skills mix we need that will be fit for the future, regardless of how hard it may be to predict.

Also, on the topic of inclusivity, various sessions and leaders such as Tracie Jolliff, Head of Inclusive System Development for the NHS, signposted to the latest Sir Gordon Messenger review,  Leadership for a collaborative and inclusive future report, published in June 2022, which examines leadership practices and current status within the NHS and explores recommendations for improvement, such as but not limited to raising leadership accountability using a more standard appraisal system, implementation of more effective recruitment and development of non-executive directors within the NHS, and replacing outdated leadership practices and thinking with actions and practices that promote the values of EDI, to help support the wellbeing and growth of the NHS workforce and the patients and communities they serve. This is indispensable work to address deepening health inequalities among patients and within the NHS workforce itself. 

On a final note, embedding effective resilience in our organisations and processes is attainable, although it will not be an overnight journey and will require a holistic approach with long-term thinking and commitment to implementation and accountability at its core. The effectiveness and success of our health and care system in delivering the best, equitable, sustainable, and consistent care for our patients today and in the future relies on a plethora of factors, such as but not limited to workforce wellbeing, flexible working models, diverse career progression opportunities, EDI, sustainability, functional IT systems, safe and updated infrastructure. All of these are determinants that do not operate in silo and aren’t agenda items to tackle one by one but rather operate and interact symbiotically with each other.

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Got some interesting insights and reflections you would like to share around the topics of collaboration and/or inclusivity in the NHS? Or just want to know more about how Locum’s Nest is supporting on that journey? We’d love to hear from you, get in touch with lara@locumsnest.co.uk