A warm welcome to our new HPMA Presidents, Sarah Morley & Janet Wilkinson

As Dean Royles wishes a fond farewell to his time as HPMA President, it’s time to welcome our new Co-Presidents, Sarah Morley and Janet Wilkinson!

Sarah and Janet have worked together as HPMA Trustees for many years and, as they will now be sharing the role of HPMA President, have decided to co-write their first Presidents’ blog together so you can get to know them. You can read each of their entries below to find out more about their personal and professional backgrounds, what they plan to bring to their role as Co-Presidents, and why they love the People Profession!

Sarah Morley:

Hi I’m Sarah, one of the new Presidents of HPMA.  I’d like to say a little bit about what drives me and my background.

We work in the best profession in the world (of course) so the opportunity to take up this role jointly with Janet is a fantastic opportunity. It means I can meet more of our People Professionals across the UK and showcase my passions within the profession.

Our strength is in our people and my ambition for the Charity over the term of our presidency is all about that strength and is already inherent in our HPMA strategy.  We will provide our colleagues with a safe place to come and share their experiences, feel part of a wider community, learn from each other and knit the People Profession together across the Health and Care sector across the UK.

One of my pet hates is the phrase ‘our workforce is our biggest asset’. This phrase takes all the humanity out of what we’re about. Our people are the golden thread that runs through the NHS, dedicating themselves to helping people and communities. This is often done in very difficult and pressurised circumstances and at a detriment to their own personal health and wellbeing, especially in recent years.

I feel so strongly that we need to recognise the value in individuals and work with them so they can be their best and have fulfilling and rewarding careers in the NHS.  It’s about realising that our services need to reflect the communities we exist within, in all their diversity and backgrounds.

A bit about my background, I came from Llanelli, a town in West Wales where I attended an all-girls Grammar School.  This was about the least diverse place you could wish to be and it wasn’t until I moved to Cardiff in 1986 that I felt what it was like to live in a multi-cultural city with all the richness that brings. Living as part of the LGBTQ+ community (not known as that then of course) brought its own challenges but it certainly felt like a place you could breathe and be yourself.

I was originally destined to be a secondary maths teacher but that didn’t work out and with a love of teaching and IT (all new at the time) I was really fortunate to have opportunities in adult education and training.  This is how I got my opportunity to start working with the NHS in 1999.

When I joined full time a year later I was suddenly exposed to all the elements of the ‘Personnel’ function. There were so many arms to it that I had no idea existed.

Of course following all the developments in the profession in the last 23 years we have moved on to be centre stage in a service that cannot do what it needs to without our People Profession. We have finally landed on a title that says exactly what we’re about. Dealing with the rough and the smooth being the shoulder to cry on and the trouble shooter when people get themselves into difficulty, and so much more.

This is what makes me so proud now to be at the heart of HPMA. A Charity that supports the development of our people with an ambition to shine light on what we do across all the corners of the UK and provide those opportunities to showcase the brilliance of our work and our colleagues.

Janet Wilkinson:

Hi, I’m Janet, the other half of the new HPMA Presidency and I’d like to share a little about myself and my approach to the role.  I am incredibly honoured to be taking on this position and am looking forward to meeting many of you over the next year as well as working with Sarah, Nicky and the whole HPMA team including trustees and VP’s.

I was born and brought up on a farm in Cheshire and, like Sarah, went to an all girls grammar school that lacked any overt diversity.  I have always been a strong supporter of women’s rights and was the first in my family to go on to further education at Newcastle Polytechnic where my eyes were opened to a much broader spectrum of people and possibilities.

I joined the NHS in 1986 and fell into what was then Personnel – I have been very grateful for the many opportunities I have been given and the fantastic people I have met during my career through Personnel, Human Resources and now as Chief People Officer at NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care.  I have spent half of my time working in NHS Wales and the other half in England and I believe that one of the great strengths of the HPMA is that it is truly inclusive of all our four nations.  In my current role I am enjoying learning about the contribution that the people profession can make across the wider health and care system including working and collaborating with colleagues from Primary Care, Social Care and the VCSE.

Now that I’m in the latter part of my career, I have never felt prouder of being part of the People profession as we have met the significant challenges of the last few years.  I have been involved with the HPMA, and its forerunners NAHSPO and AHHRM, since 2000 and (although I can’t party like I used to at the annual conference!) I remain as passionate as ever about the work that we do to support, engage with and develop our members.  I get a great deal of personal satisfaction from seeing people in our profession grow in confidence and skills and deal with the inevitable bumps on the road with enthusiasm and dedication.

I would like my time as joint HPMA President to be marked by putting the joy back into our profession after such a hard few years and remembering why we love the jobs we do.  Ultimately it is through valuing every member of the workforce that we can have the most positive impact on the care that our communities receive.  I believe that the HPMA provides opportunities for us all to become stronger and to look after our own wellbeing and development needs – long may it remain so!