Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Change managementEmployee engagementLatest NewsHR strategyHuman capital

NHS HR chief confident that workplace reforms will improve delivery of healthcare

by Guy Logan 14 Jul 2008
by Guy Logan 14 Jul 2008

Clare Chapman has told Personnel Today that her 18 months as workforce director-general at the NHS have been a “privilege” – and that she believes the health service’s new staff constitution will improve poorly-performing trusts.

Speaking exclusively to Personnel Today on the 60th anniversary of the NHS, Chapman said she was confident the constitution would bring lagging local employers up to scratch.

The draft NHS constitution was published at the end of last month in conjunction with Lord Darzi’s review on the future of the health service. Based on the results of staff and patient opinion surveys, it lists rights and responsibilities for staff, as well as what patients should expect from the NHS.

“Staff and the public want to know what the NHS stands for as it moves away from being a monolithic nationalised industry,” Chapman said. “This is about answering what the NHS is, as well as what it isn’t.

“There are a lot of things I hope to do through the NHS HR community, in terms of making sure we stretch the system around behaviours and practices that are happening in the best trusts, and ensuring they actually happen in all trusts,” she said.

Lord Darzi’s Next Stage Review of government plans for the NHS called for trusts to be held accountable for their training budgets, and for nursing staff to be encouraged to opt out of the NHS to sell their services back as social enterprises.

Chapman said the report’s focus on improving and maintaining the quality of the workplace was “fantastic”.

“I’m absolutely delighted that’s what the Darzi Review focused on,” said Chapman. “We recognise there’s a big element of quality in our staff, and our constitution will ensure we continue to focus on improving quality of professionalism, of the workforce strategy, of education and training.”

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

What the NHS constitution means for employers

Under the draft constitution, the NHS pledges to strive to:

  • provide all staff with well-designed and rewarding jobs that make a difference
  • provide all staff with personal development, access to appropriate training for their jobs, and line management support to succeed
  • provide support and opportunities for staff to keep themselves healthy and safe
  • engage staff in decisions that affect them and the services they provide, individually and through representatives.



Guy Logan

previous post
Competency frameworks: Ignorance isn’t always bliss
next post
CIPD calls for tax breaks to encourage take-up of occupational health

You may also like

Warning issued over loss of ‘frictionless’ business travel...

29 May 2025

Streeting appeals to resident doctors to vote against...

29 May 2025

Recruitment outlook improves, despite employment law fears

29 May 2025

HMRC releases research on removing salary sacrifice tax...

28 May 2025

Call-handler sues Met Police over reinstatement of offensive...

28 May 2025

WFH for important meeting was acceptable, tribunal rules

28 May 2025

KFC to create over 7,000 jobs

28 May 2025

Consulting giant McKinsey cuts headcount by 10%

28 May 2025

Scrapping Level 7 apprenticeship funding is a ‘major...

27 May 2025

Higher-level apprenticeship funding to be limited to under-22s

27 May 2025

  • Preparing for a new era of workforce planning (webinar) WEBINAR | Employers now face...Read more
  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+