| 2 August 2020
A response from our Chief Executive John Rogers:
The COVID-19 pandemic has truly accentuated that every single person working in our NHS plays an invaluable part in keeping us all safe and saving lives. The publication of the NHS People plan 2020/21 recognises the unprecedented efforts of the whole NHS workforce and pledges a much-needed commitment for consistently high-quality health and well-being support for its staff, so they can better look after themselves to ensure delivery of the best possible care for their patients.
The action plan builds on the innovations its people have been capable of making at pace, and at scale, in the most challenging of times. The challenge is to now embrace these innovations and to enable staff at a local level to transform our NHS workforce and achieve a sustainable future.
The COVID-19 crisis has seen the real mobilisation of partnerships, showing that cross-sector collaborations and local systems can be successfully enabled and delivered when there is a true single focus. We particularly welcome the plan’s focus on leadership approaches, embracing flexible working, diversity, and inclusion, and digital transformation. It chimes with all of the core work that Skills for Health have been supporting over many years – including our work on ‘new ways of working’, flexible digital rostering, and eLearning.
We are wholly supportive of the plan and will make our contribution to its success by helping NHS and social care organisations realise its ambitions through effective workforce development strategies, leadership and organisational development, online learning solutions and advanced digital rostering platforms.