The Social Partnership Forum offers employers in the NHS the opportunity to get involved and influence the government's healthcare policies in relation to workforce.
Social Partnership Forum website www.socialpartnershipforum.org
The Social Partnership Forum website provides:
- information about the Social Partnership Forum’s work programme
- advice and materials to support and encourage partnership working between employers and trade unions at all levels in the NHS
- information on regional social partnership forums with a link to local contacts
- a range of case studies highlighting the benefits of partnership working.
How employers are represented
The Department of Health, NHS Employers and the NHS trade unions all nominate their own representatives for the SPF steering group. The allocation of places for the national meetings is as follows: five Department of Health representatives, five employer representatives and eight NHS Trade Union representatives.
Employer representatives involved in the national SPF include:
- Gill Bellord, Director for Core Services, NHS Employers
- Ann Macintyre, Director of Workforce, Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
- Tina Smallwood, HR director, Hull Teaching PCT
- Harry Hayer, Director of Organisation, People and Performance, North Bristol NHS Trust
- Chris Stocks, Head of Human Resources, Sheffield PCT
- Heather Lawrence, Chief Executive, Chelsea & Westminster NHS Foundation Trust
- Steven Ned, Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development, Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust
- David Farrelly, Director of Workforce and Strategy, East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust
Background on the SPF and partnership agreement
The SPF underpins the National Stakeholder Forum (NSF) that is a high-level strategic group covering broad policy development and implementation. The SPF makes sure that there is early involvement for both employers and the unions in policy development, focusing in particular on the workforce implications.
Bi-monthly meetings are held and chaired by Simon Burns, Minister of State for Health. Sub-groups also meet to focus on specific issues, as required.
NHSE Leading workforce thinking 2010 - SPF session
The SPF session at the NHSE conference focused on 'Partnership working - the way forward'. Josie Irwin, Head of Employment Relations, RCN chaired and speakers included representatives from Aintree University Hospitals and NH North West. Read more about the conference session here.