NWSSP People and Organisational Development division celebrate success at HPMA Cymru Conference and Awards ceremony

Colleagues from the NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership (NWSSP) People and Organisational Development division were announced as winners across a number of categories at the HPMA Cymru Conference and Awards ceremony held on 1 March 2023.

The awards, which were part of the HPMA Cymru conference held at the Swansea.com stadium, South Wales, celebrated the incredible work that is ongoing throughout the principality and was themed around developing and celebrating organisational culture within the Welsh NHS. Guest speakers presented to an audience of 200 people on the topics of diverse cultures, Welsh language and building teams that bring different viewpoints and talents which ultimately helps to increase innovation and drive higher performance.

People and Organisational Development colleagues were announced as winners in the prestigious categories of Team of the Year; with People Services Manager, James Green winning the Cross-sector Working award; Mental Health Advisor, Kerry Flower-Fitzpatrick the Well-being award; and Senior People and OD Business Partner, Karolina Kobylnik winning the award for Partnership Working Between Employers and Trade Unions.

NWSSP Director of People, OD and Employment Services and HPMA Cymru Committee Chair Gareth Hardacre;

“I am delighted for our colleagues from the NWSSP People and Organisational Development division. This success, across multiple categories, is testament to the hard work and dedication of all individuals and teams involved, aligned with their overarching approach to well-being, cross-partnership, and collaborative working. Many congratulations to all involved.”

“The conference was about bringing the incredible work that is ongoing on throughout NHS Wales to the fore and sharing the best practice so we can all positively influence our organisations cultures. Congratulations to all finalists and thank you for your contributions which highlighted a number of excellent projects and initiatives that are being undertaken on a local level. Thank you also to all the speakers for their invaluable insights, all attendees and the HPMA Cymru events team for organising such an engaging event.”

Julia Denyer, NWSSP Head of Organisational Development;

"I am really proud to be part of HPMA's Team of the Year! This award was presented to NWSSP's People and Organisational Development team in recognition of the ways in which Resourcing, Workforce Analytics, Business Partnering and Organisational Development work together to support people within the organisation. This has included a number of pieces of collaborative work including the development of learning, mental health support, bespoke OD interventions and the development of NWSSP's employee value proposition. The team take opportunities to reflect, innovate and develop and consistently strive to meet and exceed the level of service expected."

Reflecting on her award for Partnership Working Between Employers and Trade Unions, Karolina Kobylnik said;

“We are so proud to be honoured with the award for the best partnership working between employers and trade unions – it shows we continuously develop effective relationships with trade union colleagues to design better employee relationships. A small working party including trade unions, Wellbeing Champions and Business Partners was formed, to determine what was needed to improve the support during investigations and its outcomes.”

“The informal approach to resolving issues early and upfront has been identified as a key step change in the way NWSSP approaches investigations. The key was taking things back to basics to understand what people’s fears were and what they needed when faced with an investigation. Several things are often outside of the organisation’s control, but what is never out of anyone’s control is picking up the phone and updating people. Even if it’s just so they know they are not alone. Sometimes all it takes is a conversation between two people that want to make a difference.”

Cross-sector Working award winner James Green said;

“I am delighted to have won HPMA the award for Cross Sector working but it would be remis of me not to mention the great work the wider Resource Bank team have done for NWSSP. The award is a reflection of the last 20 months, proactively building relationships with external public sector organisations, working across Wales with local councils, Department of Work and Pensions, Career Wales and Welsh Government funded projects.”

“The project demonstrated sustainability as we are now able to recruit and select candidates from a diverse range of talent pools, with one of the key achievements being that as an organisation we have reduced agency spend by circa £100k per month.”