People Plan for 2020/2021

Posted by: Ellie Ward - Posted on:

We are the NHS: People Plan 2020/21 – action for us all, along with Our People Promise, sets out what our NHS people can expect from their leaders and from each other.  It builds on the creativity and drive shown by our NHS people in their response, to date, to the COVID-19 pandemic and the interim NHS People Plan. It focuses on how we must all continue to look after each other and foster a culture of inclusion and belonging, as well as take action to grow our workforce, train our people, and work together differently to deliver patient care.

This plan sets out practical actions for employers and systems, as well as the actions that NHS England and NHS Improvement and Health Education England will take, over the remainder of 2020/21. It includes specific commitments around:

  • Looking after our people – with quality health and wellbeing support for everyone
  • Belonging in the NHS – with a particular focus on tackling the discrimination that some staff face
  • New ways of working and delivering care – making effective use of the full range of our people’s skills and experience
  • Growing for the future – how we recruit and keep our people, and welcome back colleagues who want to return

The arrival of COVID-19 acted as a springboard, bringing about an incredible scale and pace of transformation, and highlighting the enormous contribution of all our NHS people. The NHS must build on this momentum and continue to transform – keeping people at the heart of all we do.

Find out more from the Chief People Officer, Prerana Issar and Chair of Health Education England, Sir David Behan about the People Plan 2020/21:

Join the conversation #OurNHSPeople #WeAreTheNHS and find out more at [email protected].

This republished version (6 August 2020) includes a correction to a drafting error within the section ‘Belonging in the NHS’ relating to a section on equality, diversity and inclusion.