New NHS ‘head of flexible working’ appointment welcomed

Flexible working advocates have welcomed the appointment of the NHS‘s new ‘head of flexible working’ as the UK’s largest employer seeks to become more flexible friendly.

Jane Galloway, deputy director at the NHS London Leadership Academy, was recently appointed as the health service’s “head of flexible working”.

She reports to a “head of improving people practices” in a bid to encourage part-time work and other forms of flexible working in the health service.

The appointment follows warnings about staffing shortages in the NHS and increasing stress. One of the big challenges is finding ways to make frontline roles more flexible.

Kate Jarman, co-founder of FlexNHS, a support and resource network to promote and enable flexible working in the NHS, said: “It’s fantastic to see NHS England appoint a head of flexible working to coordinate efforts across the service to improve working lives for the 1.5 million people working in the NHS. There is much to be done nationally in equalising policy approaches to flexible working and ensuring all staff have equity of access to flexibility at work. We have been working with Jane, who was appointed to the national role recently – and who is a passionate advocate for flexible working in all its forms – and look forward to continuing to work with her in her new role.”

Jane, a qualified executive coach, is the founder and director of Quiet the Hive, an organisation devoted to developing women leaders.

She has around 20 years of experience of working in the NHS where she has worked across a range of complex programmes and she says she is passionate about supporting and encouraging people to make the NHS “efficient, effective and sustainable”.

At the London Leadership Academy, her job involves “creating opportunities, provoking thought and supporting individuals and organisations to take the time and space they need to be their best selves”.

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