The Workforce Team

Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals employs around 3,450 individuals and our success as an organisation is a credit to their expertise, dedication and teamwork.

The Workforce & Organisational Development department provides leadership for all aspects of people management and development across our hospitals, in order to enable quality patient care and support the achievement of hospital objectives and our business plan.

Reporting to the Director of Workforce & Organisational Development, the responsibilities of the senior Workforce & OD team encompass a wide range of work areas that collectively support the aim to become one of the best healthcare Trusts in the country.

The Senior Management Team

Education and Training

The Trust is committed to ensuring all our staff receive a comprehensive induction on commencing in the Trust, staff have access to ongoing professional development to ensure they have the knowledge, skills and behaviours to deliver a first class service to staff and patients. The Trust provides training and supervision to both undergraduate and post-graduate students across all the professions and have close partnerships with the University of Surrey, KSS Deanery and St Georges and Imperial College Medical schools.

The Education and Training Team supports education for all staff across the organisation and consists of :

• The Education and Training team co-ordinate training across the trust, including induction, mandatory training and leadership and management development. The team supports NVQs, Apprenticeships and Clinical Skills Development across the Trust.
• Medical Education Team who are based in the Education Centre at St Peters, the team provide support to all doctors in training in the Trust from their recruitment, induction and supporting them and the directorates in completing their clinical competencies. Local faculty groups monitor the quality of the learning experience for each area
• Library and Knowledge Services, library services are provided on both sites offering a range of supports to both undergraduates and postgraduate students and to all staff across the Trust. This includes supporting literature searching and study skills training to support staff in further developing their knowledge and skills
• Undergraduate Medical Education Team, the team supports medical students form St Georges and Imperial College and provide them with a comprehensive clinical skills development programme and ensure they receive supervision and support in the clinical areas. The team also support work experience students who come in weekly throughout the year to give them an insight into careers in the NHS.

Recruitment

The Recruitment team handle internal and external recruitment and ensure that all appointments comply with NHS guidelines for employment checks: Occupational Health clearance; Criminal Records Bureau check; satisfactory references; eligibility to work, identification check. All vacancies are advertised on NHS Jobs, and applications are made on-line by candidates through NHS Jobs. Some of the employment checks, such as occupational health and CRB are made on-line to improve data accuracy and speed up the process. The average length of time for filling a vacancy from approval to candidate attendance at induction is 12 weeks.

All jobs advertised on the NHS Jobs website.

Employee Changes

ESR Self-Service enables managers to access information about their team, and the ability to record appraisals, training and development, absence and attendance, change personal details, and enter terminations.

Healthroster is used for managing rosters for shift-based staff, and booking temporary staff. The system enables clear oversight of the allocation of the workforce at ward and departmental level.

The Clinical Resource Management System (CRMS), supplied by The Learning Clinic, provides a streamlined system for doctors in respect of job planning, appraisal and annual leave management.

For more information and access to these systems, contact Workforce & Organisational Development.

Temporary Staffing

There are occasions when the Trust needs to use temporary staff to ensure safe staffing levels, and support additional service needs. Nursing and midwifery staff are provided through an in-house bank, supplemented by NHS Professionals. Administrative and clerical staff are provided through an in-house bank, and supplemented by Hays agency. Other staff groups such as medical and dental, allied health professionals are managed through the in-house bank, or resourced from Buying Solutions Framework agencies.

Contact the Temporary Staffing team if you are interested in joining the Trust's in-house bank.

Payroll and Pensions

The Trust's in-house payroll team provide a comprehensive service to ensure that pay and expenses are processed accurately and promptly. The pensions team produce pension forecasts, membership enquires and retirement applications in regard to the NHS Pensions Scheme. The team run awareness sessions helping staff to understand their NHS pension. Details are published in Aspire.

Contact the Payroll & Pensions team if you have any pay/pension related queries.

Deputy Director of Workforce

The Deputy Director of Workforce leads the team of HR Consultants and Advisors (listed below) who provide professional HR advice and support to managers and staff across the clinical divisions and corporate directorates across a range of areas including workforce planning, change projects, employment policies and employee relations issues. In addition, the team work with managers to ensure that actions are taken in response to feedback from staff surveys, and they also deliver training on issues related to people management.

HR Consultants:

• Kate Clarke, David Hurrell, Diane Oakley

HR Advisors:

• Kerry Steele, Karen Cooke, Emma Alderman, Maria Crosbie and Claire Le Brasse

In addition, the Deputy Director of Workforce co-ordinates the work of our Equality & Diversity Steering Group and our Single Equality Scheme. Chaired by Andrew Liles, Chief Executive, the EDSG brings together around 20 staff champions who collectively lead an ongoing programme of work to ensure that Ashford & St. Peter's is an equal, fair and diverse place to work and receive care.

Head of Organisational Development

Inspiring and Supporting Our Staff

The driver for each member of staff is to be great on a consistent basis in the eyes of their patients and their carers, fellow employees, and the public at large.

To inspire and support the workforce to achieve this, the Trust needs to further develop a learning organisation culture where staff feel that they can live the values of the organisation every working day, as outlined in the staff pledge.

The NHS Constitution: Staff Pledges

The NHS Constitution, records what the NHS stands for and what it should live up to. It sets out the principles to guide how all parts of the NHS should act and make decisions and sets out a number of pledges to staff:

• To provide all staff with clear roles and responsibilities and rewarding jobs for teams and individuals that make a difference to patients, their families and carers, and communities
• To provide all staff with personal development, access to appropriate training for their jobs and line management support to succeed
• To provide support and opportunities for staff to maintain their health, well-being and safety
• To engage staff in decisions that affect them and the services they provide, individually, and through representative organisations and through local partnership working arrangements.
• All staff will be empowered to put forward ways to deliver better and safer services for patients and their families.

Success is achieved through constant engagement with staff including:

• Two annual staff surveys [one local and one national] to listen and understand the views of staff and act upon areas where they feel improvements are needed;
• A programme of national and local awards to recognise staff achievements both academically and 'on the job';
• A health, safety and well-being strategy and associated calendar of events and advice to staff to support them to make lifestyle/behavioural choices; and
• A series of leadership development programmes for staff across the organisation so that they lead by example and acknowledge ideas and learn from each other and their patients.

Whistle-blowing Policy

If you have genuine concerns about risks to patients, professional or financial malpractice, or unlawful conduct, this policy will enable you to raise them without fear of victimisation or harassment.

Raise any concerns that you have with your immediate manager, your Head of Service or Director, or the Director of Workforce and Organisation Development.

If you should feel that you need independent and confidential advice at any stage, contact the Independent charity Public Concern at Work, on 0207 404 6609.