Head of Personnel in the NHS visits local hospital

 2 February 2000

Doctors and nurses at the West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds will have an opportunity to put forward their views on working in the NHS when Director of Personnel for the Service, Mr Hugh Taylor, visits the hospital tomorrow, Thursday.

Delivering the Government's modern and dependable health service is dependent on Trusts attracting and retaining high quality staff and being good employers. Mr Taylor has been invited to address a lunchtime meeting of staff about the national strategy which is in place to help achieve this.

"We were delighted when Hugh Taylor accepted our invitation to talk about the importance of having first class staff to deliver a first class health service," said Jan Bloomfield, Director of HR and Corporate Resources.

"It will also give him an opportunity to hear first hand about the issues which are important to our staff and the support they are looking for," she said.

Following his talk Mr Taylor will be given a tour of the hospital. This will take in Accident and Emergency where the Trust is actively promoting its support for the Government’s Zero Tolerance campaign to stop violence and threatening behaviour against staff.

On the wards he will be introduced to Lindsay Pike, Ward Sister and RCN representative. Visits to ITU and the Medical Assessment Unit will bring him into contact with staff who have been particularly busy as a result of winter pressures and the increase in emergency medical admissions. At the end of the afternoon Mr Taylor will meet Trade Union representative and the Staff Involvement Group.

A number of targets have been set to ensure NHS Trusts have a quality workforce and are improving the quality of working life for staff. These include, by April 2000; tackling equality, creating healthy workplaces by reducing sickness absence rates, reducing the incidence of violence against staff and providing staff counselling, developing plans for involving staff in planning and delivering health care and improving retention rates for staff.