I am extremely pleased to announce that following an extensive recruitment process involving colleagues and stakeholders, we have appointed Alison Balson as our new Chief People Officer.
Alison, known as Ali, has worked in Human Resources in the NHS for more than 20 years and has been the Chief People Officer / Director of Workforce at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust since 2015. She has deep rooted connections to UHMBT having been born at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary and still has family living in the area.
Ali is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and has an MA in Human Resources Management. She also co-chairs the NHS NW HR Director network, where she is currently leading regional work on colleague well-being, and is a member of several national advisory groups.
Ali, said: “I have a passion for staff engagement, partnership working and person-centred HR policy, having led Trust wide engagement programmes that focus on culture, leadership, well-being, team engagement and personal development. I truly believe in creating the right cultural conditions for colleagues to flourish at work, recognising this results in a positive experience for our patients.
“Taking up the position of Chief People Officer at UHMBT feels like coming home. I’m really looking forward to being part of the Trust’s improvement journey and helping UHMBT be a great place to work and a great place to be cared for.”
We are very pleased to have appointed someone of Ali’s calibre to our Executive team. Her extensive skills and experience and values will help us to further progress some of our key focus areas, including our cultural transformation work, recruitment and retention, and colleague health and wellbeing - both within the Trust and across our local health and care system.
We expect Ali to join us in the new year. Until then, Bev Edgar will remain as our Interim Chief People Officer.
We’ll continue to keep you updated.
Aaron Cummins
Chief Executive