What is your role with ELFT?

I'm the People Promise Manager, which I started in June. This role came about as ELFT is part of the National People Promise Exemplar programme, which is all about trying to embed the NHS People Promise in each respective organisation. My job is about communicating and bringing together activity within each of the seven elements of the People Promise to increase engagement and awareness of all support, information and services amongst staff. I am also involved in specific projects aligned to some of the People Promise elements. 

What is the NHS People Promise?

The People Promise is seven elements from an overarching framework that creates an easily understood, consistent and standardised way of talking about, measuring, and improving Employee Experience. ​The themes and words that make up our People Promise have come from those who work in the NHS, so its created by our people, for our people.​ This is a promise we must all make to each other – to work together to improve the experience of working in the NHS for everyone. It’s not only about what we do, but how we do things, and it’s not only the big initiatives, but the important everyday smaller actions too.

How did it come about?

In January 2019, the NHS published its Long-Term Plan (LTP) which sets out an ambitious 10-year vision for healthcare in England. ​​Subsequently, the NHS People Promise came from the 'looking after our people' section of the 2021/21 NHS People Plan. The annual NHS Staff Survey was then redesigned to align with this NHS People Promise from 2021. Following this, the Long Term Workforce Plan for the NHS was published in June 2023 and sets out retention as a key pillar of our workforce strategy over the medium and long term. ​​Practical actions to improve staff experience and retention are set out across each of the People Promise areas.  

What are they key elements of the NHS People Promise?

• We are safe and healthy (i.e. safety culture, lone working support, health and safety)
• We are always learning (i.e. professional and personal development, quality improvement, people participation)
• We are compassionate and inclusive (i.e. wellbeing support, values and leadership behaviours)
• We each have a voice that counts (i.e. staff survey, speaking up channels)
• We are recognised and rewarded (i.e. staff awards, NHS benefits, pension awareness)
• We work flexibly (i.e. new ways of working policy, ways and types of flexible working)
• We are a team (i.e. healthy team bundle, staff networks)

How does the NHS People Promise support staff at ELFT?

As explained in the NHS People Plan, the NHS People Promise is all about 'looking after our people'. Each element of the People Promise showcases a different aspect of what makes a positive people experience. If people are aware of the NHS People Promise and what this means at ELFT (via the ELFT People Promise Bundle), then they will be increasingly aware of the support, information, initiatives and resources that are there to help them in their roles. This should allow people to thrive at work and truly feel that the People Promise is an accurate reflection of their lived experience at ELFT.

How does the People Promise support service users?

If the People Promise supports staff, then in turn it supports service users. When people feel like the People Promise is reflective of their experience, environment and culture at work, this allows for the best possible care outcomes and experience for our patients and service users. In the future we want to do more work in partnership with the people participation team, to ensure that we strengthen and build on the way in which this benefits services users as well as our staff.

What are your next steps?

We will be continuing to embed the People Promise into our communication and engagement channels and move forward various projects aligned to each of the People Promise areas. We have just launched our People Promise Champion programme, so any member of staff who feels passionate about bringing the people promise to life and making it a reality in their team / area will now have the opportunity to do so. Also, we are about to release ELFT People Promise bundle z-cards, so that those without regular access to a computer can still hear about the people experience offer.