The NHS Constitution

The NHS Constitution was launched in July as part of the NHS Next Stage Review and outlined in the Queen's speech on 3 December 2008. It establishes the principles and values of the NHS in England, including the rights and responsibilities of staff. NHS Employers has consulted with employers and its policy board members to ensure their views are represented.

We submitted our views on the workforce aspects of the constitution as part of the NHS Confederation's overall response in October. We also submitted detailed comments on a range of issues to the Department of Health's workforce group, which are summarised below.

• A summary of NHS Employers' response
• Background information on staff pledges and responsibilities
• Next steps

A summary of NHS Employers' response

• NHS Employers supports the inclusion of pledges to staff in the constitution balanced with staff duties and responsibilities. The pledges are a helpful way of summarising what employees can reasonably expect from their employer and what their employer can expect from them.
• We support the scope of the planned pledges, for example, around providing well-designed jobs, effective appraisal and a healthy working environment.
• The aspirations set out in the pledges are those we would expect of all NHS employers, reflect good human resource practice and build on those developed as part of the Improving Working Lives programme.
• Research evidence clearly demonstrates that better human resource practice leads to better NHS performance and the pledges should therefore be seen as part of a wider improvement strategy for the service.
• The pledges should also apply to non-NHS organisations supplying services to the NHS to ensure a level playing field.
• We believe that it is important to develop the national pledges in a way which complements NHS values and builds on local good practice.
• The implementation of the pledges needs to have an appropriate balance between national standards and respecting local autonomy. They should also encourage and support local self improvement rather than concentrating on dealing with failure. We therefore welcome the decision to include staff satisfaction within the overall assessment process for the NHS.
• NHS Employers also contributed to the NHS Confederation response.

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Background information on staff pledges and responsibilities

Staff pledges

These are designed to clearly set out for the first time what the NHS expects from its staff and what staff can expect from NHS employers. The Department of Health sees this as part of the commitment the NHS has to being a good employer and helping staff feel valued. They are not intended as legal obligations but may create expectations of employers.

NHS Employers fed into the pledges consultation, saying that employers support the pledges but want to see a combination of ambition and autonomy.

The constitution currently contains the following pledges to staff:

• The NHS will strive to provide well designed and rewarding jobs.
• The NHS will strive to provide all staff with personal development, access to appropriate training for their jobs and line management support to succeed
• The NHS will strive to provide support to staff to keep themselves healthy and safe
• The NHS will strive to engage staff in decisions that affect them and the services they provide both individually and through representatives

Responsibilities for staff

The constitution also proposes a set of responsibilities for staff. The key ones of these are:

• Staff should strive to maintain the highest possible standards of care and service, taking responsibility not only for the care you personally provide but also for your wider contribution to the aims of your team and the NHS as a whole.
• Staff should strive to take up training and development opportunities provided.
• Staff should strive to contribute to a climate where the truth can be heard and the reporting of, and learning from, errors are encouraged.

These responsibilities would not be legally binding on staff, but would enable employers to have clear expectations on staff.

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Next steps

NHS Employers submitted its response to the consultation constitution, based on your views and also contributed to the workforce aspects of the NHS Confederation response. We are now working to ensure employers' views are considered as it is developed into its final form.

The Health Bill, as outlined in the Queen's speech, is due to be introduced in the current parliamentary session.

Please send any further comments or queries to steven.weeks@nhsemployers.org