Sir Neil McKay, Chief Executive of NHS Midlands and East and national lead for workforce transition, and HRTPF co-chairs Karen Didovich, RCN and Stephen Welfare, NHS Midlands and East welcomed over 100 delegates to the event focusing on the transition programme underway across the NHS, the Department of Health and the Arm’s Length Bodies.
Details of the HR transition programme were shared with employers and staff-side colleagues from across the DH, ALBs and the NHS. The event provided an opportunity to:
- Hear policy and strategy updates from key leads for the proposed new organisations
- Discuss the overall transition timelines and the key milestones between now and April 2011
- Provide opportunities for delegates to consider these implications and influence the way that we progress these
- Develop a shared understanding of the impact on employer and staff-side workloads
- Discuss the role social partnership should occupy both within transition and beyond the current process.
In the morning session, Department of Health policy leads led workshops on the new organisations; presentations can be downloaded here:
National Commissioning Board
Health Education England
Public Health England
NHS Trust Development Authority
Emerging themes from delegates were discussed in workshop sessions in the afternoon session; key themes were around:
- capacity and capability
- communications
- commissioning support
- partnership working
The HRTPF welcomed the feedback and input from delegates and agreed that the four themes highlighted by delegates would be priorities for action in early 2012. The HRTPF is currently considering the issues discussed, and how to take them forward and will issue a further update along with plans for addressing these priorities in January 2012.