NHS can learn from retailers, says workforce boss

Clare Chapman, the Department of Health's director general of workforce, said that good retail chains listen to their customers and introduce changes quickly, through allowing local managers to innovate. "If you want to be genuinely customer-led, you have to be powerful locally," she told the NHS Employers conference in Liverpool on 16 November. Chapman, who was previously group personnel director of Tesco, said that customers had asked for 24 hour opening, automated checkouts, home delivery and cheaper prices at the same time, even though introducing the first three involved significant initial costs. "It helps when rulebooks are short, and leaders have the confidence to be guided by values and judged by results," she said. She said that the NHS's values, "our deep sense of shared purpose," will not change. But there will be moves from national management to local, from "targets and initiatives to outcomes and principles" and a much greater focus on public health than before. Chapman echoed minister Simon Burns' promise of help for those at primary care trusts and strategic health authorities, which will be abolished under government plans. "There will still be opportunities for those who wish to stay in healthcare, and are willing to be flexible," she said, adding that nascent GP consortia are saying they will need strong commissioning staff. However, for those who are either unwilling or unable to find jobs in the new GP commissioning consortia, the department is setting up a mutually agreed resignation scheme, she said. In response to questions from the audience, Chapman said that it was possible that more human resources functions from trusts could be outsourced, particularly routine transactional work. She also said that trusts will have greater abilities to negotiate pay, as foundation trusts already do. This could mean pay freezes in return for guarantees of jobs and local discussions on pay: "It would strike me as daft if we didn't do something to enable staff representatives and employers to have those discussions," Chapman said. However, she added that she expected that the national contracts will still be widely used. When asked by broadcaster Ed Stourton, who was chairing the session, whether it has been difficult to adapt from working for the last government to the current one, Chapman said that this government came to power with some clear ideas on the NHS. However, "one of the areas they didn't have very clear ideas on was on workforce". "It's been tough on one level, because there has been less clarity around our area," she said. But she added that if it came to a vote, civil servants might prefer that minister have less strong ideas when starting.